Cook County Clerk David Orr envisions a voter’s Arcadia in Chicago’s (somewhat distant) future. Despite the rather grim predictions that turnout will be disappointingly low in the upcoming spring Illinois primary election, Orr believes the state can counter low voter turnout in future local, state, and national elections by initiating what he terms a “voter registration renaissance.”
In a piece written for the Chicago Tribune last Friday, Orr suggests that participation ills during elections are an outgrowth of entrenched barriers to voter participation due to inefficient, outdated practices that are neither streamlined nor coordinated. Essentially, in order to increase voter turnout at the polls, processes such as registering to vote and updating voter information must evolve into drastically easier methods. Orr writes:
We must do more to encourage participation for future voters. I believe that effort starts with a technology-driven voter registration renaissance. By today’s rules voters must actively seek out a method for registering to vote when they turn 18, become a citizen, register for the first time, and every time they move for the rest of their lives. It’s an outdated model rife with bureaucratic red tape.
Let’s shake up our thinking and move toward efficient automatic registration. Let’s capture every eligible citizen and create an inclusive Illinois voter list by harnessing transactions citizens already have with government. And to catch anyone still not on the rolls, let’s implement Election Day registration. I’m calling this approach ‘All In.’
