Election changes
This is probably
Lawmakers sent Gov. Rod Blagojevich an election overhaul package Saturday that Republicans complained would open the door to voter fraud.
The package, which passed the House on a 62-51 vote Saturday, would require the creation of voters' guides, time off from work for voting in some circumstances, the inclusion of voter information in college registration materials, and the availability of online voter registration through state agency Web sites.
Republicans howled that it was weighted in favor of Democrats; for example, labor unions would be exempt from state rules that require registration of nonprofit agencies for election activities. [...]
Others objected to a provision that would let lawmakers hand out voter registration forms in their offices, which they say would open the door to illegal campaigning. Another section would require businesses to give time off for voting to employees who work through regular polling times.
UPDATE: Dan comes up with an analysis.
posted by Rich Miller @ 5/29/2005 03:19:00 AM
5 comments
5 Comments...
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This is a good bill soon to be law.
Anything that allows more people the opportunity to vote is a good thing.
How could anyone be against that?
So did anybody else notice the provision that takes the ability to appoint a U.S. Senate vacancy away from the Governor and gives it to the State Central Committee? Anybody wonder why? Think it through now.
There is a bit more to the voting leave provision than in the summary. Current statute requires employers tp give one hour of unpaid leave to any worker to vote. This bill authorizes up to two hours and mandates that the employer pay the worker for the time off. So according to IDES, the average hourly wage in Illinois is just over $15 per hour, so employers will pay over $30 per worker for no work performed. Anyone want to bet that a whole bunch of union workers will want the last two hours of a shift to go vote and somehow, just somehow will end up walking a precinct or two??? Just asking.
Oh Puh-lease! "It only makes voting easier."
Yeah, like you NEVER have to show up in person to vote. (Just 'cause your dead don't mean you can't vote)
Your state representative can conveniently register you to vote. (Oh, you want my help with this constituent matter? Why don't you fill out this form first while I call the alderman.")
It makes it easier way easier to register college kids to vote in a community they have NEVER lived in before, and will NEVER life in again. (So what if you don't pay property taxes here or live here? You can still vote for to affect everyone else's lives here)
And my personal favorite: LET'S PAY PEOPLE TO GO VOTE!!
Since when did voting in this country become so hard that we had to make it easier? It's supposed to be hard for crying out loud! If voting were easy, then all the idiots would vote with their knee-jerk reactions.
The notion that anyone is "allowed" to distribute voter registration forms is ridiculous. Thanks to the Help America Vote Act of 2001 and the National Voting Rights Act of 1994, anyone can obtain a voter registration form almost anywhere... they are available on the internet and federal law means that deputy registrars and county clerks are far from the only game in town. What's the big deal? Everyone that wants to can distribute the forms.
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