It is estimated, by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, that 60,000 Mainers will wait until Election Day 2012 to register to vote if late registration is available.
Folks in favor of same-day registration say that’s reason to abolish Maine’s new early registration law. Wonder if the number needs to be 120,000 before they’d give support? Maybe 200,000?
Those same supporters say early registration should not have been enacted because same-day registration has been on the books four decades.
If that’s a valid argument, should we do away with the law allowing a right traffic turn on red? We passed that law after umpteen decades without it.
Argument for last-minute registration claims college youths can be lumped with senior citizens on the issue. That claim is unfair to seniors who are not responsible for college kids unable to get out of their own way to register. The last label we should attach to college youth is procrastinators! Their support for late registration is shameful, with weeks and months available to register.
A no vote on Question 1 keeps Maine aligned with 42 states requiring early registration. And what’s more, we’ll erase the picture predicted of Mainers, by late registration, i.e., 60,000 lazy citizens in the state once saluted: “As Maine Goes, So Goes The Nation!”
No is the way to go!
John Benoit
Manchester
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