There has been a fair amount of chortling over the fact that two of Donald Trump’s children weren’t able to vote for him in New York’s presidential primary because they’d missed the deadline to register as Republicans. But their disenfranchisement is indicative of the needless barriers that prevent far too many people from casting ballots. That is no laughing matter.
Ivanka and Eric Trump ran afoul of New York’s overly restrictive voting laws. New York does not allow same-day registration, party primaries are open only to registered Democrats and Republicans, and new voters must register at least 25 days in advance in order to participate.
Most absurdly, anyone registered to vote who wanted to change their party registration to vote in Tuesday’s primary needed to have done so by Oct. 9 of last year. This is the rule that tripped up the unaffiliated Trumps. Six months before the primary? What purpose does that serve beyond suppressing democracy?
And the Empire State is far from alone in using an arcane system of voter registration. According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, 1 in 4 eligible voters is not on voter rolls, and 1 in 8 registration records is invalid or has serious errors. What is needed are reforms – such as automatic registration using reliable information from government lists or online access so voters can check and update registration – to make it easier to vote.
Sadly, though, the trend seems to be moving in the opposite direction. Witness the proliferation of state laws requiring voters to present photo IDs at the polls or requiring proof of citizenship to register. Or the long lines in the recent Arizona primary that kept thousands of voters waiting for as long as five hours, a vivid illustration of not providing sufficient resources for voting.
Ivanka and Eric Trump are right to feel embarrassed about not having voted Tuesday. But the true guilty parties are those responsible for maintaining high barriers to the franchise.
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