Every election season, thousands of people find themselved unregistered and therefore unable to vote. And, every election season, thousands of volunteers toil endless hours on a task that need not exist at all: registering voters.
These states have already done this: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.
Ohio is 100% capable of taking the same step.
Thirty-nine states have automatic registration for a military draft. What does that say about our priorities and about how possible this is?
With automatic registration for voting -- an opt-out option instead of "jump through hoops to register," as required in many states -- nobody is required to vote or even be registered. Rather, a government that already knows who we are through motor vehicle and other departments simply allows us to vote. (And the DMV in many states requires stricter proof of identity and citizenship than does traditional registration; and traditional registration remains available.)
As a result,
• more people vote and candidates have to win the votes of more people. Quite possibly more candidates gain traction.
• it becomes easier to place initiatives on the ballot by gathering the signatures of registered voters.
• volunteers can set aside the endless work of voter registration and instead promote the policy positions they care about.
