Reply #6: States work on proposals to make voting easier

[kpete]

States work on proposals to make voting easier
Updated 2/26/2007

By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Proposals designed to make voting easier and ballots more secure are beginning to advance in several states.
The proposals range from allowing voters to register until Election Day to expanding the use of absentee ballots and early in-person voting. Several states and Congress also are promoting paper trails for electronic voting machines.

The trend follows several years in which states passed tighter restrictions, such as requiring photo identification and proof of citizenship. Opponents of those restrictions, some of which were blocked by court action, are behind the push to bring more voters to the polls.

"There will be some legislatures that will be more receptive to those ideas," says Doug Chapin of Electionline.org, a non-partisan news and research organization.

The trend toward making it easier to register and vote could help Democrats in 2008, particularly in battleground states that will decide who wins the White House. Minorities and the poor would benefit the most, and they tend to vote for Democrats, says Kimball Brace of Election Data Services, a political consulting firm.

more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-02-26-voting_x.htm