Hillary Backs Age 18 Universal Voter Registration

Hillary Clinton
with former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
observing the North Korean border

During a speech today, Hillary Clinton advocated for nationwide universal voter registration for all citizens who reach age 18. The comments, as reported in the Los Angeles Times, had two purposes. One of them was to increase the number of eligible voters, a seemingly laudable goal. Hillary's other goal was to criticize Republican presidential candidates whose actions have effectively trimmed voter rosters in their respective states. The GOP plan is predicated on uncomplicated electoral math in which racial minorities and young voters are systematically blocked from their voting franchise. Often, the right-wing uses the absurd them of "voter fraud" to achieve its cynical purpose.

The GOP should be -- but isn't -- ashamed of itself for perpetrating this offense. If the Republican programs were so popular, the party of the elephants would not have to resort to discouraging or suppressing voters from expressing their opinion. Once upon a time, the GOP could count on white male voters to carry national elections. (This was a premise of the 2012 Romney campaign.) Well, we know how that one worked out, although the Democratic Party had to fight Republican voter suppression efforts in states such as Pennsylvania.

The notion of universal voter registration makes sense. The "state's rights" crowd is almost certain to fight any such proposal. They want to take "their" country back. So do 18-year-old voters.

Florida Electoral Board KOs Christian Slater's Provisional Ballot

Miami-Dade Election Board letter
to "Christina Slater"
(photo:  Miami Herald)

Florida continues to be the epicenter of the political fight for voting rights. The most recent episode involves the Miami-Dade electoral board, which decided to void a provisional ballot cast by movie star Christian Slater. The board's reasoning was that Slater's ballot signature did not match the John Hancock on his voter registration form.

The story, as reported in a Miami Herald blog includes a ribald touch. The board's notification letter addressed the highly visible actor as "Christina Slater."

For the record, the Herald noted that portions of the Slater "rejected" vote story first appeared in "the website BuzzFeed."

The most disturbing aspect of the incident was properly noted by the Herald:

Get ready for more stories like this in Florida. Tens of thousands of provisional ballots were cast in Florida and many of them didn't count.

Washington State Allows Voter Reg Via Facebook

Thanks to a big assist from a Microsoft app,  the state of Washington is now permitting voter registration via Facebook. Just thought you would want to know. The scoop came from arstechnica.com.