Do Americans realise how absolutely insane the very concept of “purging a voter registration list” is? You have to *register to vote*? What are you even talking about?
Are you a citizen? Then you should automatically get a vote. There isn’t anything to administer. You live there. The government serves you; not you it. Voting isn’t supposed to be a privilege, or reward.
The obvious abuse vector that any system other than “all citizens vote” becomes is astounding.
“Well what about XyZ?”
Did I stutter? *all* citizens. You all pay taxes, you all live together, choices made by gov effect all of you. So you all get a say. Automatically. Nothing should make any persons voice not count. Yes that includes criminals. ALL get a vote.
For a self proclaimed world leading democracy, so many of the systems in play seem very far removed from that bold claim and much more “keep the current rich white guys in power” encoded in the system as a whole.
@mattwilcox I think one practical consideration is, you vote in a different jurisdiction depending on where you live and you need to notify the relevant authority when you move—there’s no concept of “registration” like there is in many places in Europe. And frankly as an Australian I consider that itself a foreign concept.
(But also as an Australian I think voting should be ranked choice and compulsory…)
@ratkins 100% for the “use ranked choice and make sure everyone votes”.
Maybe *then* politicians would also consider proper education about all this stuff at school too, if they suddenly realise that “the uninterested masses” will vote rather than remove themselves from consideration by not voting.
Matt Wilcox
Robert Atkins