EP 954 Should We Be Making It Harder or Easier to Vote?

While some states are making it easier to vote, with automatic registration when you renew a driver’s license, or aggressive campaigns to bring voter registration to you, other states are working aggressively to restrict voting by requiring proof of citizenship, which goes beyond basic voter identification.  And President Trump and the GOP-proposed SAVE Act is considered by many to be a solution for a problem that does not exist. It is not a Voter ID bill but rather a ‘show me your papers’ bill with the government seeking your birth certificate or passport to vote.  Birth certificates will often not include a woman’s married name, those born outside a hospital may not have one and only about fifty percent of Americans do not have a passport.  C’mon, this is a burden meant to suppress voting by some. The big concern raised by those who are attempting to put more restrictions in place is non-citizen voting.  Even conservative groups who’ve studies that issue find it to be a red herring, representing at most .004 percent over a sweep of time.  In this conversation with Anjali Enjeti, author of “Ballot,” I share my greater concern–that too few people go out and vote.  In fact, the numbers in municipal elections, which used to be in the 70-80 percent range in many places have dwindled to about 25 percent.  And presidential elections now hover in the 60-70 percent range. How do we really know the will of the people when a dwindling share decides to participate? I believe we should be making it easier, not harder, to vote.  At the end of the conversation, I mention that Australia has mandatory voting or you are fined.  Would that work in America?  We discuss it today on this podcast.

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