Tar Heel News

AAUW NC

Tar Heel News

Fall 03 issue
 Front page
 Public Policy
 SAR
 AAUW NC
 Branches

Same-Day Registration Resolution Provokes Continued Discussion in AAUW NC

• Resolution - voted down at AAUW NC 2003 Convention
• Background
• Same-Day Registration - Pro
• Same-Day Registration - Con

Background of Resolution Process

Beth Messersmith
Raleigh/Wake Co. Branch Member
Democracy North Carolina Co-Director

The 2000 election shed light on a number of problems facing our electoral process, not only in Florida, but also across the country. In addition to voting and recount problems, the election highlighted broader weaknesses in our current system. Voter turnout was at near-record low levels and close to 50 million eligible Americans were not even registered to vote. In North Carolina, only 47.9% of voting age citizens voted in the 2000 election. Over a million were not even registered. In most states, citizens who became interested in the election near the end of the campaign were not able to register due to registration deadlines up to a month before election day. Many registered voters who went to the polls could not cast ballots due to problems with registration lists.
Since the election, concerned citizens have discussed possible reforms to remedy these problems. Same-day registration is one such reform. The six states with same-day registration (MN, ME, WI, ID, NH, WY) lead the United States in terms of voter turnout and report hardly any cases of fraud.

In North Carolina, interested groups, including N.C. Fair Share, League of Women Voters of N.C., NAACP of N.C., N.C. PIRG, A. Philip Randolph Institute, Common Cause, and Democracy N.C. came together to support passage of this reform. Bills (H-756/ S-745) were introduced in both the House and the Senate early in the 2003 session. Under these bills:

• N.C. citizens could register and vote at "Early Voting" sites from 19 to 3 days before an election, but not on Election Day until the system is tested.
• The voter would be required to show the poll official ID and swear that she/he is over 18, is a U.S. citizen, and lives at the address on the ID. Lying would be a felony. That's more anti-fraud protection than exists for any other voter.

With the advances in the statewide voter registration lists and computer-equipped polling sites required under the recently approved Help America Vote Act, State Board of Elections Executive Director Gary Bartlett has said that same-day registration is more feasible and preferable to shortening the registration cut-off date.

Supporters began a campaign in Spring 2003 to educate North Carolinians about this possible reform and garner support for the bill. This effort includes asking organizations to pass resolutions in support of same-day registration. The resolution was completed and the appeal for resolutions went out from the coalition on the Friday morning of the AAAUW NC 2003 convention. Beth Messersmith, AAUW member and Democracy North Carolina co-director, asked several current and past board members if it would be appropriate to ask the convention to consider the resolution at that point, given that it had just come out and was of a time-sensitive nature. Having been advised they believed it would be appropriate, Beth asked a board member to take the resolution to the board meeting and ask whether it could be considered. As was described in the summer edition of THN, there was confusion as to when the resolution would come up for discussion. As a result, the woman who had presented the resolution was not present to speak to it during the Saturday business meeting. After discussion of the resolution in the Saturday session, a vote was taken on the resolution and failed. A lively discussion of the issue took place on the AAUW listserv in the weeks following convention on both the issue and the process under which the resolution was considered. Due to continuing discussion on what happened at the convention, the AAUW board requested inclusion in the fall THN a brief history of the issue, discussion of what occurred at the AAUW convention, and pro and con articles on the issue.

Other electoral reform issues currently pending in NC:

• S-1009/ H-1234: "Voter-Owned Elections" for Council of State
• S-760: Local Campaign Finance Options