Maine voters will determine a really simple proposal on November 8: whether to repeal a new state law that demands voters to register a minimum of two days prior to an election. Repeal would effectively restore same-day registration, a policy that has been in impact in Maine for practically four decades. The law allowing individuals in Maine to register at the polls as much as Election Day is strongly favored by Democrats, who say it encourages voter participation. But it is opposed by Republicans who contend that same-day registration opens the door to fraud and abuse. Randy Spencer, a Maine guide who divides his time in between rural Grand Lake Stream and Holden, near Bangor, says same-day hard money lenders voting saved him on much more than one occasion. When he moved his primary residence to Holden in 2006, “I promptly registered to vote,” Spencer stated. But when Election Day rolled about, his name didn’t appear on the registered voters list, so he was allowed to re-register within the town office. Within the next November election, the same thing happened. While the new law includes a provision that could allow individuals like Spencer to vote by giving them a ballot and verifying their legal status within three days of the election, supporters of same-day registration say it also assists people that function numerous jobs and lack time to register. Opponents, nevertheless, are rankled by students who enter colleges as nonresidents but register to vote in Maine in the last minute just before elections. In Maine and other states, Republican microdermabrasion machines opponents of same-day registrations have said enough. Amongst the seven other states which have allowed same-day registration, bills were introduced in two this year – Montana and New Hampshire – to repeal that provision. In New Hampshire, the bill failed to pass within the House. Montana’s bill was vetoed by the governor, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A minimum of 13 states introduced GOP-backed bills this year to finish Election Day voter registration, limit voter registration efforts or decrease other camcorder stabilizer registration opportunities. Furthermore, nine states regarded as bills to reduce their early voting periods, and among them, bills in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio and West Virginia have already been enacted, according to the nonpartisan public policy organization Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. In Ohio, a brand new GOP-backed election law that shortens the early voting period for the presidential election swing state was placed on temporary hold after Democratic opponents submitted petitions to get a repeal question on 2012 ballots. The Ohio Democrats’ action was strikingly comparable to what had occurred months earlier in Maine, where a petition effort led to this fall’s referendum to obtain rid of the law requiring registration at the very least two days prior to metal detector the election. Thirty-four states, such as Maine, regarded as bills to call for photo identifications to vote. Maine’s bill was held more than, so the State Home debate will resume in 2012. A report last week by the Brennan Center says the newly enacted restrictions could make it harder in 2012 for a lot more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots across the country. The restrictions in Maine might be about 60,000, the approximate number of people that registered on Election Day 4 years ago, the center says. Michael Waldman, executive director of the Brennan Center, referred to as the trend “the most considerable cutback in voting rights in decades” and stated it could trigger a lot more voters to lose their opportunity to cast ballots than the margin of victory in two out of the past three presidential elections. The Brennan Center’s democracy program director, Wendy Weiser, stated the move to roll back voter-access laws across the country has been “radical and unprecedented.” She stated there’s been a clear partisan divide on the concern, with Republicans pushing for the adjustments. Ironically, when Maine became the first state to adopt same-day registration in 1973, the Republicans controlled both houses of the Legislature and also the proposal passed unanimously, the Brennan Center noted. The rethinking of a voting-access policy in Maine gained traction right after the Republican Party took control of the Legislature and governor’s workplace in last year’s elections. Following vigorous, partisan debate, lawmakers this spring passed a law requiring people who want sh to vote and who’re eligible to register at the very least two company days prior to Election Day – or till 5 p.m. the Thursday prior to an election. The public debate has pitted the GOP establishment against a coalition of Democratic-leaning advocates for organized labor, consumer and public health causes, the disabled and also the state’s homeless. The campaign rhetoric has been sharpened by GOP claims of nonresident students abusing the system and voting twice – charges which have gone basically unsubstantiated. While an investigation by his office failed to flush out any fraud or illegalities amongst tankless water heaters
the students, Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers stated he saw enough evidence to convince him that municipal clerks need much more time to assessment voter registrations, as well as the 48-hour requirement “is an extremely, extremely reasonable, moderate step.” He noted that 41 other states require longer registration periods before election. Democrats as well as other defenders of same-day registration have sought to link the new wave of voter-registration rollbacks with the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative Washington-based nonprofit that espouses conservative policies in state legislatures. Democrats and also the Safeguard Maine Votes Coalition have also identified prominent Republicans who registered on Election Days, promoting charges of hypocrisy that reverberated briefly throughout the campaign. Maine Republican State Chairman Charles Webster dismisses suggestions of an organized GOP assault on the states’ voting laws, and stated Maine acted on its own when it passed the two-day registration law. For 3 decades, Republicans in Maine have attempted every session to repeal same-day registration, and it has been rejected on a party line vote each session, Webster stated. Now the Republicans have a majority in the state, as well as other states, and they’re utilizing their power to make changes. But even that small measure of errors can result in recounts, overturn elections and decide control of legislatures, Webster stated. While Webster says one mistake is too several, same-day followers say one eligible voter reverted is too many. And so they cite study right after study that refutes the voter-fraud claims of their opponents.