On November 19, a New Jersey state appeals court revived the lawsuit Rutgers University Student Assembly v Middlesex County Board of Elections. The case was filed in 2011 to overturn the New Jersey law that requires voter registration applications to be filed no later than 21 days before an election. See this story. The trial court had dismissed the case, but the appeals court remanded it and said the case is strong enough so that there should be a trial.
Some people are never satisfied. While I have some reservations about same day registration – not totally opposed to it but see the mischief which can come from it. I think if anyone wants to vote bad enough they can find the time to go and register – even if the law requires it to be done 21 days before the election.
Next thing we’ll have people demanding to be allowed to vote AFTER the election is held. If a certain group doesn’t like the way the election turned out, they will get the law changed saying anyone who was not registered prior to an election, but registers at least 7 days after the election, should be allowed to register and cast a “post-election” vote in that election just.
Sound ridiculous? Just give these millennials time and they’ll be pushing for something this ridiculous. And there are enough people out there who would think such would be okay. Imagine the havoc it would have upon our election process.
But then again, we’ve got to be sure no one is discriminated against.