Beto unveils ambitious plan to boost voter turnout, diminish money in politics

[TexasTowelie]

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke released a sweeping plan Wednesday that aims to expand voter turnout, increase the security and transparency of the electoral process, and decrease the influence of money on politics.

O’Rourke’s plan, built in three parts, comes with ambitious goals to register an additional 50 million voters, increase voter turnout to 65% and have more than 35 million new voters cast ballots in 2024.

There were about 158 million registered voters during the 2016 presidential election out of a total voting-age population of about 246 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 138 million people cast ballots in 2016, for a turnout of about 60%.

“The only way to make progress is if every single American is empowered to vote — and those who have historically been drawn out of our democracy are able to make their voices heard so that this country can live up to its full promise and potential,” O’Rourke, a former El Paso congressman, said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190605/beto-unveils-ambitious-plan-to-boost-voter-turnout-diminish-money-in-politics