In your recent “Another View” in the Portland Press Herald, you replied to my recent “view” in the same paper.

I would love to respond to you in print, but the paper’s 30 day policy on running repeat submissions from readers precludes that possibility. However, since you challenged my thesis, I do want to respond to you. Thus the email.

Let’s start with your title “Changing registration laws would disenfranchise voters.” While we expect democrats (and since you are the chair of the Cumberland County Democratic machine, you are one of whom we speak) to be benighted in the basic laws of economics, we would hope that the same could not be said for your command of the English language.

The word, disenfranchise, means to: “deprive a person or organization of a privilege, immunity, or legal right, especially the right to vote.” – Encarta Dictionary: English (North America)
Stopping same day registration to vote in no way deprives any person of the right to vote. It merely requires them to take just a bit of initiative and to register to vote any other working day of the year. That was the point of my article, but in your partisanship, or lack of comprehension, you overlooked this fact, and went on to cry wolf when indeed no canine was in sight.

I have no problem with the concept of universal suffrage, and universal suffrage remains intact so long as a voter registers within the legal time frame for such registration. Voters in 42 other states have no problem with this concept. Why do you find this concept so challenging? Is it because it has been legal in the past? Remember, slavery was once legal, too. Laws can be improved!

The fact that 33 percent of the population was not able to pass the basic citizenship test does reflect badly on the electorate, and it explains the quality of our elected officials. And, yes, those people would qualify for my “uninformed voter” tag. You question what I mean by uninformed.
The less polite word would have been unaware. These are people who do not follow current events. They would have a hard time identifying any of the major politicians in either party; they would not be able to articulate either party’s position on most political issues; and their motivation for voting at all would be tied to “What do I get if I vote for your guys?”. “Let’s talk about that,” sighs the political group.

And there we have the nub of the issue. Organized political groups try to get out the uninformed voters in the largest numbers possible on Election Day. That’s it! Same day registration!
Same day registration of these unknowing voters does democracy no favors. Please give us voters who are at least smart enough to register to vote before Election Day.

You, Mr. Scher, want quantity of voters on Election Day. I want quality of voters on Election Day. Maybe then we might get some quality legislators.

Sincerely,
Gerald Caruso