MOST PEOPLE WANT TO ENCOURAGE CITIZENS TO VOTE-- REPUBLICANS WANT TO DISCOURAGE US THOUGH

As soon as the law permitted me to register to vote, I did. I've never missed a vote since, not even when I was living abroad, not even when I was living in the remote mountains of Afghanistan. Most Americans aren't as fastidious about carrying out their civic duty in helping to chose a government. That's exactly why we end up with garbage like Bush running the show. Have you ever heard to Election Day Registration (EDR)?

I didn't know what it was until yesterday when a friend of mine explained it to me. She suggested I look into it further at a website set up by Demos, a progressive think thank. The definition is very simple: "Election Day Registration (EDR), also known as "same-day voter registration," permits eligible citizens to register and vote on Election Day. EDR significantly increases the opportunity for all citizens to cast a vote and participate in American democracy."

And that, of course, explains why Republicans fight tooth and nail to derail it. With almost no exceptions, EDR bills only pass when there are Democratic governors and secretaries of state and when Democrats control both houses of state legislatures.

"In the 2004 presidential election, six states offered EDR, and boasted, on average, voter turnout that was 12 percentage points higher than in non-EDR states." This year there are efforts underway that should succeed in North Carolina, Hawaii, Washington and Massachusetts and next year Illinois and Colorado will probably be joining the club. It was passed in California and Schwarzenegger, delivering for the reactionary GOP, vetoed it. It just went through in Iowa. States that already have EDR include Minnesota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Wyoming, Maine and New Hampshire.

In states with EDR, voting increases dramatically for young people, recently naturalized people, people who have moved residences, low income people, and minorities. Republicans claim that EDR encourages voter fraud, which is completely untrue. Republicans, like Chuck Hagel, Ken Blackwell, Katherine Harris, the Bush family, and Patrick McNutcase encourage voter fraud.