Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Voter Registration
I've heard that in order to be able to vote you should register but I didn't know that you have to register long time before you want to vote in the US. In some states like TX and WV, you should register 30 days before the election day! First I thought that's because they should look at you records and see if you are eligible to vote or not, i.e., if you are a felon or not (by the way I don't know the voting eligibility is equivalent to not being a felon and of course being a US citizen!), but in the states that everyone can vote like Vermont and Maine you have to register as well. The only state that doesn't require registration is North Dakota. Have a look at this page if you need more information. Anyone knows what's this registration for?
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4 comments:
As far as I know, voter registration is used mostly to assure the integrity of elections. Even in places with no laws removing the civil rights of felons, voters have to meet age and residency requirements, so you'd still have to register. Having a list of eligible voters for each polling place allows election officials to make sure that everyone is only voting once on election day, and that, in the case of local elections, people are voting in the district where they live. To the best of my knowledge, the requirements for registration 30 days in advance are because compiling the voting rolls accurately takes some time. Perhaps with technology advancing, we can some day get rid of that. In addition to election-related purposes, your local courts use voter registration rolls to call people up for jury duty (please do not let this deter you from registering).
By the way, I found your blog after you posted a comment over at my blog, Penguin Perspectives. You've got a nice blog over here. I'll have to add it to my reading list.
Could you please remind me your blog address?!
Penguin Perspectives is at www.janetharriett.blogspot.com
By the way, I'm interested in knowing how you found my blog. There's an email address at my blog site where you can respond if you'd rather not have a conversation in our respective comments sections.
I found your blog by chance. I think I was looking at the list of recently updated blogs and I found yours.
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