With the election edging ever closer as weeks go by, most are concerned with the candidates and campaigns. Not many are concerned with the act of voting itself. In a country that has prided itself on values of equality and democracy, being able to vote for your favored presidential candidate should be a relatively easy process.
However, recent controversy has brewed over a series of voting laws that have been passed by Republican-led legislatures during the past year. Furthermore, there are 16 states that are considering the elimination of voter registration on the Election Day itself.
According to an article published by Reuters on Sunday, these laws that are designed to fight voter fraud could be detrimental to President Barack Obama’s chances at being re-elected. Laws that make it much more challenging to register for voting will deter many from going through the process, especially low-income families and some minority groups.
A law that has been hotly contested is one in Florida, which requires groups to submit voting forms 48 hours after they are received, or else they face fines of $5,000 or more.
There are no clear indicators to what extent these new rules will impact the election or its results. The advent of photo identification being required to avoid fraud is a valid measure; while the government wants to make voting as easy as possible, it would be equally wrong to facilitate voting fraud.
Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that many voters are not inclined to vote in the first place; passing legislation that bars citizens from doing so will only fuel this disinclination and as a result hurt the democratic process.
Of course, these legislative changes primarily impact voters who wish to register via an organization, and therefore individual voter registration may suffer less of the impacts.
An important distinction to make when evaluating whether these developments will hurt the election turnout or not is tracking how many people will resort to registering as individuals or give up on the process entirely.
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