At 10:20 PM 10/26/2004, R wrote: -a recent poll indicated that 60 percent of americans favor abolishing the -electoral college. looks like a pretty good bet for voting rights reform -to me.
Since such a decision isn't decided by plebiscite and you need 67% of Congress to vote for a Constitutional Amendment, such numbers are unimpressive.
-what are the odds favoring eliminating felony disenfranchisement, speeding -up naturalization of immigrants seeking citizenship, installing voting day -registration? -where is your evidence, nathan newman, as you like to ask others? tell me -the likelihood of achieving these goals of voting rights.
There are active legislative campaigns and litigation against felon disenfranchisement (including at my policy shop), many of which are making real advances. Most states already restore voting rights to people who have finished their time in jail or on probation, and many are improving their laws. In 2001 Connecticut legislators enacted a new law that restored voting rights to people with felony convictions on probation. Alabama, Delaware, Maryland and New Mexico have also recently reformed their voting policies.
Under Clinton, naturalization procedures were speeded up, while they have slowed to a crawl under Bush, so there are demonstrable differences from party control in immigration naturalization.
As for voting day registration, six states already permit same-day registration - Minnesota, Maine, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Wyoming and Idaho. In other states, we are moving towards that as early voting moves closer to the end of registration. In some states you can now register to vote and then vote the same day. So we are already enacting that reform step by step.
So there's your evidence.
-- Nathan Newman