2008 Election Proves Need for Automatic Voter Registration

As early voting gets underway, the need to make voter registration automatic is more important than ever.

John McCain and the Republicans are screaming about ACORN's voter registration efforts because a small percentage of the 1.3 million forms they submitted are invalid (and flagged as such by ACORN so they are not processed).

California just arrested a Republican operative who defrauded thousands of voters into re-registering as Republicans by signing petitions against child molesters.

Enthusiastic support for Barack Obama is sending new registrations through the roof and overwhelming county officials in California and across the country.

New requirements to match registration names against official databases (Social Security, motor vehicles, etc.) are producing millions of matching errors due to typos. (Even Joe the Plumber's last name is spelled wrong in his county voter file.)

So what is the solution? To eliminate the bureaucratic process of voter registration altogether and make registration automatic for all U.S. citizens over 18.

I first proposed using the Social Security database as the official voter registration database three years ago. Virtually 100% of U.S. adults have a Social Security number. If the Social Security Administration can't tell citizens from non-citizens, data from other agencies and consumer database companies can fill the gap. Social Security sends an annual financial statement to everyone each year; they could send it 3 months before each election indicating your official mail and voting address, and give people a chance to change that address in time for the upcoming election. One month before the election, Social Security could send every county a final list of eligible voters. People who move and don't receive the notice and don't find their name on the county list could vote with a provisional ballot listing their previous address for verification.

This system would eliminate registration fraud (submitting phony forms) because there would be no registration process. It would eliminate voter fraud (voting more than once) because each voter would appear on one and only one county's voter list. It would eliminate matching errors because there would only be one database, not multiple databases needing to be matched. It would save counties billions in computer systems and clerical staff. It would save courts millions in ridiculous lawsuits.

So why don't we Just Do It?