If you have been on State St. at all this summer you’ve been approached by the New Voters Project. It’s impossible to avoid them, seeing as they’ve been registering voters in bars, on the street, in restaurants, coffeeshops, parks, you name it.
Recently the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal ran an article about how many of the registrations they’ve acquired don’t have the identification information on them required by the state (a valid license or state ID # or the last four digits of your Social Security #). As a result, municipal clerks have to send out letters to the voter asking them to provide the information or the registration won’t be valid on election day and the voter will have to re-register at the polls.
Two thoughts.
First, the NVP should get it as right as possible and get that information if they can. After all, very few people aren’t carrying their license or don’t know their social security number (or don’t have either). So they should really try to get that information right off the bat.
Second, as someone who organized a GOTV effort in Milwaukee this summer, clerks are, on a whole, just like many other bureaucrats, frustrated when extra work comes their way.
If every four years the clerks of this state have a tough time registering all these voters, to that I say, do your job! My god, maybe it is a little more expensive and time consuming, but hey, the democratic process isn’t a piece of cake! Budget the extra money, do whatever it takes, but get those people registered!
Whiny bureaucrats and good hearted, but incomplete civic do-gooders….ah, election year fun!

-=Rob Deters=-