What? 30,000 register to vote in Connecticut at the last minute?
Election night on the evening news there was a piece about how the voting went in the state that day. Overall, it went well with few problems. However, this was the first presidential election since Connecticut started Election Day Registration and the Secretary of the State’s office said that more than 30,000 people took advantage of that.
What – The – Heck? Thirty thousand people waited until the last minute to register to vote?
Are they all brain dead or did they all happen to move into the state the day before?
This is the best argument for NOT having same day registration that I can think of. On election day the town and city voting officials have enough to do to make sure everything runs smoothly at the normal polling places, counting ballots, tabulating results, reporting to Hartford, etc. The last thing they need on that day is to be inundated with inconsiderate people who can’t be bothered to find any time in the other 250(+/-) days of the year to get signed up to vote.
Voting is serious business, wherein the voter should be well informed of the candidate’s positions and track record, and also aware of any other issues that may be on the ballot. It is also NOT something that a person should leave to the last few minutes of the year, before the polls close, to bother to register to vote.
Additionally, the news piece I saw said that this last minute registration process used a new program that registers the person instantly, and there were some problems with that system. Again, a big “DUH?” to the officials in Hartford who used a brand new system for the highest turnout election in recent memory. And it’s not like they didn’t anticipate a high turnout this year, either.
Connecticut seems to be run largely by incompetents, and this is but two more examples of proof of that. Same day voter registration should be eliminated in the next legislative session for the benefit of all concerned.
Craig Hoffman lives in Cheshire.
