A suggestion for boosting voter numbers

Would it be a good thing if more people voted in American elections?
Some would say no.

One rationale would be that individuals who have little knowledge or concern about their government have the same power — one vote — as those who study the issues and the candidates. Therefore getting the former group to the polls could result in the election of unworthy officials.

A related belief, more bald-faced, might be made by a political party that seeks to make voting more difficult for groups that tend to support candidates of the other party.

That was how the Democrats in Southern states used to run things before the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and it’s what modern-day Democrats now accuse Republicans of trying to do in those same states today, and in other states controlled by Republicans as well.

Republicans, of course, deny that charge. They claim that initiatives like photo voter identification, elimination of Election Day registration, shorter poll hours, absentee voter roadblocks and scarce voter registration sites are necessary to fight voter fraud.

But it’s undeniable that stringent voter requirements tend to hit hardest on demographics that more often than not vote Democratic — the poor, the transient, the non-white.

There’s a way for Republicans to prove that they truly believe in universal democracy, and for Democrats to try to achieve it. That’s through teams of volunteers who take on the tasks of securing photo IDs for as many citizens as possible and helping them navigate the voting requirements of their individual states and counties.

The Supreme Court last year invalidated a portion of the federal Voting Rights Act, ruling that the tests to determine violations in states and jurisdictions that are governed by the Act were no longer relevant.

But the Court stipulated that voting rights are still being denied in some locations, including some of those that the Act originally was designed to govern. The Court stated that it’s up to Congress to update the formula.

Given the deadlock of Congress these days, there’s only one accurate prediction of that likelihood: Fat Chance.

So until the happy day when Congress finally gets its act together, it’s going to take the efforts of organized volunteers to increase the shamefully low percentage of eligible citizens who actually vote in this country.

Rather than lobby long, hard, and probably unsuccessfully to change the laws, volunteer teams can accomplish the same goal by working within the system.

Does a state require photo voter IDs? Then a team can seek out residents who don’t have such a card, take them to the place — driver’s license office, county auditor, wherever — where the cards are issued, and help walk them through the process.

Has a state restricted its voter registration dates, times and/or locations? Then a team can match up unregistered voters with convenient dates, times and locations to get them registered.

The ideal situation would be for the volunteer teams to be bipartisan. That would show that both parties are committed to boosting participation among citizens in the voting process. Republicans should welcome the opportunity to prove Democrats wrong in their accusations.

In the 1960s, the Freedom Riders from the North, and local colleagues in the South, risked much in trying to boost citizen voting participation across Mississippi, Alabama and elsewhere.

Similar efforts could be undertaken today by people of good will, with much less effort and danger. It’s an admirable goal, whether the new voters vote Democratic or Republican.

Why not?