Letters
Early
voting for the primary races started Thursday (news item, April 13);
unfortunately, over 1 million voting-age North Carolinians are already
out of the mix, because they failed to register before the April 7
deadline.
In
the future, however, these 1 million potential voters could be
registering and casting votes at early voting sites across the state,
despite missing the deadline. That's because state Rep. Deborah Ross
has proposed a bill that would allow same-day registration at all early
voting sites.
In
the states that have already implemented same-day voter registration --
Wisconsin, Maine, Idaho, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Wyoming -- the
average turnout rate for the 2004 presidential election was over 10
percent greater than ours.
The
bottom line is this: same-day voter registration is a reform proven to
boost voter participation, so let's not waste any more time, and let's
make same-day registration a reality here.
Rob Thompson
Public Interest Advocate
N.C. Public Interest Research Group (NCPIRG)
Raleigh
