Voter registration right violations in welfare offices.

[dougrhess]

Here's an issue I've been working on with some civil rights groups that is not getting much coverage. In fact this is the first press coverge of it that I've seen this year, which is pretty shocking and said when you consider the (tens of) thousands of voters this affects each week.

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2004/09/08/ed.edit.votereg.0908.html

[dougrhess]

Opps. Posted the wrong link. That was a lame editorial on the subject. Here's the article explaining the problem:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002028499_voters07e.html

[zorkpolitics]

 Oregon makes voter registration materials available to people applying for public assistance. Demos and Project Vote, however, say the 1993 law envisioned a more active role for the states.

When does help cross over and become coercion?   A person comes into a govrmment office, staffed mostly by democratic sympathizers, who  pusht he client to register, then later pushed to vote by Democrats. Seems to raise the spector of the welfare recipient being put in the position of registering just to be in the good graces of the people who control their welfare check?

I have no problem providing voter registraiton forms being available in government offices, but there should not be an active role by workers who control the money a person gets pushing for voter registraiton.

Thus I agree with the final paragprh of the article:
 Self-governing people have an interest in broad political participation. It's important to make registration materials readily available and easy to use, and also to make voting systems convenient and simple to understand. Yet once good registration and voting systems are in place, responsibility shifts to the voters. Those who choose not to participate in the political process are also exercising freedom - unwisely, perhaps, but the decision is theirs.

[dougrhess]

You raise common points in misunderstanding the law, but they are easy to correct.

People can simply say they are registered if they have some giant fear like you say and wish to not register. The forms are also required to say that the welfare value won't hinge on it. Also, the office staff are often less than enthusiastic about this program as it requires another form for them to handle. Trust me, there's little risk of coercion here. The issue here is offering assistance with the voter reg form as they would with any other paper work, that's it.  No pushing required or asked. In fact, the law is pretty clear on this. Sadly, the law makes the DMV registeration system very smooth and the welfare office one cumbersome. And you're worried about it being biased towards Dems? The DMV aspect of the law has largely registered republicans and independents.

Oh, and what's wrong with Democrats pushing low income and minority people to vote? Why don't you ask Republicans to do more of that???

[zorkpolitics]

You raise common points in misunderstanding the law, but they are easy to correct.

People can simply say they are registered if they have some giant fear like you say and wish to not register. The forms are also required to say that the welfare value won't hinge on it. Also, the office staff are often less than enthusiastic about this program as it requires another form for them to handle. Trust me, there's little risk of coercion here. The issue here is offering assistance with the voter reg form as they would with any other paper work, that's it.  No pushing required or asked. In fact, the law is pretty clear on this. Sadly, the law makes the DMV registeration system very smooth and the welfare office one cumbersome. And you're worried about it being biased towards Dems? The DMV aspect of the law has largely registered republicans and independents.

Oh, and what's wrong with Democrats pushing low income and minority people to vote? Why don't you ask Republicans to do more of that???

You are probably correct that public servants avoid doing any more than the minimum (or less) required for their job.  And that alone should rule out coercion.

Nothing wrong with pushing anyone to vote, as long as it is done outside of normal government functions.  

I believe in individual acheivement and self motiavation, if someone has so little interest in voting they can't send in a postcard to register, I rather they not vote.  Given nearly $2 Billion will be spen to promote the candidates and the issues, if people don't see a reason to vote, I don't think government employess should be pushing people to so so (whether they are potential Republicans walking into MV offices or potential Democrats walking into welfare offices).

[dougrhess]

Again, no body is pushing. Voter registration has to be available somewhere if you want people registered. The more available, the more registrations. Simple. As Republican Senator Wendell Ford said at the time the NVRA was passed (paraphrase) "People want to see the game, but we have to make the tickets available."