Repeal Reveal

     This year Montana voters have an opportunity to repeal election day voter registration which has been legal here for the past eight years. As an election judge, I feel same day registration further complicates the already complicated responsibilities of the election department's busiest day, slows processing and increases the likelihood of error. But my love for simplicity, efficiency and laziness aside, I think it is a bad idea because, for the most part, people who have somehow failed to notice hundreds of signs and radio and tv campaign ads are probably not people you want to vote anyway. Those against repeal say that taking away same day registration would deny people the right to vote, with particular emphasis on the elderly. Based on my experience working at polling places, the elderly are often the most committed voters. I have seen older couples hobble into the polling place when they could barely walk, vote seated because they could barely stand, and vote using the automark because they could barely see. They are not the people who forget about registering until election day. They are the people who respect the right to vote as the blood-bought privilege it is.
     It is true that there is only one day in which to vote at your polling place but, like Christmas, there is more to the season than one day. Absentee ballots were mailed out October 6th, allowing nearly a month to vote. I vote only absentee since redistricting moved my polling place seven miles away. Previously, if I knew I would be out of town on election day, I voted absentee at the election office. Since the Americans with Disabilities Act, we can vote in almost any form imaginable:

     Vote from home--absentee.
     Vote from your car. Two judges will come outside the polling place with a ballot.
     Vote seated. There are chairs, tables and privacy screens for those who need them.
     Vote by letting a friend help you mark your ballot.
     Vote by automark which is equipped with large print, braille, verbal prompting, even sip-n-puff voting for quadriplegics.

      The idea that repealing election day voter registration denies people the right to vote is like saying people who can't go to Black Friday sales are denied the right to Christmas shop. The election department was already well equipped to accommodate all those who wanted to vote before the same day registration mandate. Who it does accommodate are those rounding up busloads of students, minorities and welfare recipients that THEY want to vote--their way. If that assumption is offensive, it is not nearly as offensive as of those arranging the buses, who assume their passengers are too stupid or too lazy to vote without their help.