Pro-voting recommendations from the President’s election commission are getting a lot of attention and for good reason. The commission was assembled after the 2012 election to identify ways to improve voters’ experience. Yesterday, the Washington Post editorial board turned to the report to address how states can encourage voter turnout from a more representational portion of the electorate.
“The first thing politicians can do is stop trying to make [voting] harder. GOP lawmakers should end efforts to limit access to the ballot box with restrictive and unnecessary voter identification laws, for example. Then they should fix the things the government was already doing wrong.
That’s where a report President Obama commissioned after the 2012 presidential election comes in. The commission included Mr. Obama’s top campaign lawyer — and that of Mitt Romney, his 2012 rival. The result could easily have been a collection of useless platitudes. Instead, the bipartisan panel offered a set of serious changes that could, if state and local election officials took them up, make a big difference.”
Key recommendations from the commission include online voter registration and early voting, two increasingly popular policies among state lawmakers and voting-eligible citizens. “More accurate registration data would directly reduce complications — and lines — on Election Day,” the Post wrote. “Early voting is an obvious way to reduce wait times on Election Day and ensure that people with restrictive schedules can exercise their right to vote.”
The President also discussed the bipartisan commission’s recommendations in his State of the Union address last week: “Let’s support these efforts. It should be the power of our vote, not the size of our bank account, that drives our democracy.”
Learn more about the commission at www.supportthevoter.gov and the recommended policies at www.projectvote.org.
Photo by Sage Ross via Creative Commons.