I was at a local NYC comedy club Monday night, where one of the comedians started talking about voter fraud. He started to explain how the people controlling election day polling places should be less 'community volunteer' and more 'NYC bouncer.' He then proceeded to cross his arms, beef up his shoulders and turn his mouth into a down-turned pout, pantomiming the study of a questionable ID from someone trying to vote. We all laughed, but it brought up a serious concern. With so much recent attention pushing for more voting convenience, is anyone worried about too many ineligible voters?
Many states are trying to make it easier to vote by instating Election Day Registration. With this process, unregistered voters may turn up to the polls, register, then vote, right then and there. Many of the states have their own qualifying details on the topic (for example, in Connecticut EDR is implemented only for presidential elections), but one characterstic is consistent through all ten states: EDR states have average turnout rates that are 10-12% higher than the national average.
Check out this article from Funders' Committee for Civic Particiption for more specifics on the uprising againse EDR.