My Voter Registration Experience
Last Saturday, I spent a couple of hours as a voter registration volunteer, at what can only be described as a Meta-church social. The Gospel music made your whole body sway and the barbecue smelled heavenly. Practically every church and denomination in the town had some sort of representation.
You can infer that I’m a supporter of inclusiveness in voting rights and definitely NOT a supporter of North Carolina’s harsh and unconstitutional (although still going into effect this year) Voter ID/Voter Suppression law. I know perfectly well that some of the people we registered were conservative religious voters but I also know that republican democracy requires that everyone have access to the ballot box.
On occasions like this, we volunteers collectively ask hundreds of people if they are registered to vote, and routinely find anywhere from 4% – 10% who stop for 5 minutes to fill out a form. Our Voter ID law requires the data on one’s ID (driver’s license, passport or State Issued Identification card) to match the voting rolls EXACTLY. This means that name changes and/or address changes require re-registration or one is barred from the polls.
Get involved! Find your local party chapter to help register voters!
Four of my conversations stood out
1. The young man who wasn’t registered and didn’t want to register because he didn’t like any of the presidential candidates: I sat down on the picnic bench next to him and remarked that even if he was mad at Hillary, Bernie and Donald, we still had a Governor, a Senator and House, as well as State, Representatives (not to mention judges!) to elect. His face went slack; he obviously hadn’t thought all that through. He didn’t fill out the form but he did thank me for telling him that the County Board of Elections was right behind the Public Library and that he could register there any time.
2. The elderly lady with her gray hair in neat cornrows, sitting with her grandson in the shade: She already knew she needed to re-register after moving in with the relatives – and jumped at the chance to do so as conveniently as I offered. She had fire in her eyes and I imagine she’ll be first in line on November 8, when the polls open.
3. The middle aged woman who volunteered the information that she had been purged from the voting rolls in Alabama, 2 years ago, and that she was part of a lawsuit to reinstate the franchise to those unlawfully denied. I asked if she had moved to North Carolina and had lived here longer than 30 days – and handed her the clipboard with the registration form. My supervisor and I were deeply impressed with her determination to be counted.
4. And finally, the man at the picnic table who, when I inquired if he was registered, told me he was a convicted felon and couldn’t ever vote again. I pointed to the last section of the registration form where the voter’s signature is required, and read it aloud to him: “I attest…that: I am a United States citizen…I am at least 18 years of age…I shall have been a resident of North Carolina…for 30 days before the election in which I intend to vote…and…I have not been convicted of a felony, or if I have been convicted of a felony, I have completed my sentence, including any probation or parole. (Citizenship and voting rights are automatically restored upon completion of the sentence. No special documents required.) This man’s face lit as though I had told him he won a million dollars and, as he carefully filled out every line of the registration form, I got the impression that he had found the answer to a prayer. At least North Carolina does ONE thing right!
