On Tuesday, I laid out a pretty basic premise for reforming our election process, and sketched a case for why this needs to happen; I also promised to come back with more specifics on what exactly we should be aiming for.  And here it is--only two days late.  There's more...

In the broadest terms, what's needed is simple.  Voting needs to be seen as the right it is, rather than a privilege.  I think there's a bit of mental hurdle here, because this is one right that can only be exercised through government action.  If the government doesn't set up enough polling locations, or limits their hours, then it's not just a budget decision--your rights have been curtailed.  There should be no excuse for limiting the franchise in this way.  In fact, I'll go further--polling places should be open 24-hour for both election day and some period for early voting.  In almost any town in America, you can buy gas and soda at 3:30 AM--why can't we do the same with our votes?

Similarly, voter registration should be seen as a right, not a burden for citizens.  In Finland, for instance, voter registration is automatic--there is no need to fill out a separate form to indicate that you wish to register.  In Sweden (PDF), it's folded in with other functions of government, so that it's almost impossible not to be registered to vote.  There's no reason that such a system wouldn't work here--the government knows where almost everyone lives anyway (for tax purposes, driver's licenses, and other administrative details).  There's no reason that paying your taxes, or getting a gun license, shouldn't automatically register you to vote.  If we decided we wanted to exclude people from the rolls--ex-felons, say--we could knock them off after the fact.  There is no reason that the United States could not do this today--we have the technology, we have the capability, and in fact we already do things that are similar (for example, Selective Service registration).

So why don't we? First of all, I think, we have to change the mindset we have towards voting.  Right now, in a lot of people's minds, voting is seen as a privilege, so if there's only one polling place in your county and you can't get there before work ends, this is not seen as an imposition.  That needs to change.  Any large-scale change that results in fewer legitimate votes being cast should be seen as the little cousin of poll taxes and literacty tests, unless it leaves the process so open to fraud that new fake votes outnumber real ones.  Part of what this means will involve new resources for election administration.  There is no way that a bunch of volunteers given two hours of training is the most effective way to administer a polling place.  There's no reason that we can't come up with ballot systems that are fast, efficient, and reliable--including a paper trail, and standardized all over the country.  There's no excuse for three-hour lines.  All of these things should be not just tsked over, but vilified--made unacceptable in the strongest of terms.   And if we have to spend a little more, or not give voter file contracts to some state legislator's cousin, that might be the price we have to pay.

The other half of this, however, is more nefarious than simple unconscious attitudes and status quo bias.  There is serious and organized political opposition to expanding the franchise, which I'll examine in my next post.

UPDATE: For something a little more practical (and immediate), see Matt Yglesias (who's been on a tear recently w/ regards to voting).