As we gear up for Memorial Day Weekend, folks all throughout the country are still weighing in on the Montana Special Election. The GOP has once again shown that they’re able to manipulate their voters, this time to the point that they have elected someone who choke-slams reporters and apologizes about it to only the people who watched him do it.
Some have come away with a question: if some of those folks voted early (or absentee), what if they would have changed their minds about who they voted for? Those that argue against voting early as now citing this as a reason to restrict absentee and early voting, but I doubt most people expect their chosen candidate to then go on to choke-slam someone right before election day.
There’s also the fact that restrictions to early/absentee voting disenfranchises large swaths of our fellow Americans, particularly those from low income backgrounds, working class families, and those who have limited transit options.
In other words, folks who tend to lean Democratic.
Absentee voting is going on right now in Virginia for the June 13th primaries. Either by mail or in person absentee voters need to qualify for one of over a dozen reasons in order to do so, though. Unfortunately, GOP lawmakers here continue to try and make it even harder by attempting to pass even more restrictive voter ID laws, create proof of citizenship laws, and even create signature comparison laws!
My Republican opponent Rich Anderson is responsible for that last one; he tried to pass a bill recently which would have made it so absentee ballots-by-mail would have their signatures checked against the signature of the voter’s application. A panel of 3 people — one from each party, and an independent — would compare the signatures; if all 3 didn’t agree that the signatures matched up, the ballot would be made provisional.
Good luck if you’re a teenager who’s just developing your signature, or someone who’s had a recent hand injury, or someone who can’t write the same signature on a piece of paper (your absentee ballot) as you do a tablet (when you signed up to vote at the DMV.)
At a time when more and more folks are wanting to get involved in the process, we should be making it easier to vote, not harder. People have fought, bled and died for our right to vote, and we do those folks a disservice when we don’t vote, or when we try to deny that right to others.
That’s why I’m proposing a 21st Century Voting Rights Act (which I might call the 90 for 90 Act!) which would:
- Eliminate the need for a reason in order to absentee vote.
- Automatically register 17 year olds to vote who will be 18 by Election Day.
- Make absentee ballots-by-mail prepaid postage (so folks don’t need their own stamp to mail it back!)
- Allow for same-day registration.
- Expand the acceptable forms of ID at the time of voting (and eventually eliminate this requirement entirely)
- Automatic restoration of voting rights for certain crimes once sentences and/or parole are completed.
- Create additional avenues for voting when it comes to: seniors, deployed service members, students who attend school outside of their precinct,caregivers, and homemakers.
When we vote, we win. Honor our fallen warriors by exercising your right to vote. For more information, head over to http://www.elections.virginia.gov/