Let’s not even have this debate because it is stupid. If Tom Edsall thinks the Democrats are trying to suppress the Republican vote by making Mitt Romney unappealing to some right-leaning would-be voters, let me ask him a question. Or, rather, I’ll ask you, since you are a community of progressive-minded people. Would you support a bill that made everyone with a Social Security number who can prove their citizenship and is eighteen years of age automatically registered to vote at any polling place, or by mail? And would you support imposing minor penalties on people who refuse to exercise their franchise (even if it is only to cast “none of the above” for every line on the ballot) unless someone is willing to certify (or have it certified for them) that they are incompetent to make political decisions?
I think most progressives would sign off on a system that endeavors to establish the true will of the people by maximizing the percentage of people who vote to as close to 100% as is possible. Most of us would even support deterrents against not voting. The idea is twofold. First, the will of the people is established by determining the opinion of the greatest number of people. Second, that it is a citizen’s minimum duty to participate in elections.
Would Republicans ever agree to such a thing? Would they help us create a national holiday weekend for voting, so everyone has a chance to cast a vote? Would they allow same-day registration? Would they let felons who have served their time vote? There are isolated cases where Republicans have supported making it easier to vote, but we won’t be seeing too many more examples of that.
Republicans like to purge voter rolls of even qualified and duly-registered voters. They like to curtail early voting, absentee voting, and voting my mail. They harass and demonize outfits that register voters. They deliberately put too few voting machines in Democratic areas. They make frivolous voter fraud charges and impose onerous photo ID requirements.
Many Republicans openly express their opinion that only people who pay income taxes should have a say in our elections.
There is no equivalency between these anti-democratic activities and beliefs and running an attack ad against Mitt Romney. That a bigger electorate will help Democrats win elections is not the Democrats’ fault. We’re standing up for a principle.
