Protect value of voting, veto the auto-enroll bill

Voting in elections is the most valuable way citizens are empowered to influence their democracy and we tinker with the process at our own peril.

Last week, the Massachusetts Senate approved a system designed to make it easier to register and vote in elections. The bill would automatically update a person’s voter registration when that person has a transaction at the Registry of Motor Vehicles. The person would then get something in the mail informing them that they can now vote and join a political party or they could decline to register.

If the governor signs the bill, Massachusetts would join 13 other states that already use automatic voter registration.

Progressive groups are cheering the passage of the bill that would give approximately 680,000 eligible but unregistered citizens a new avenue to participate in elections. Though it is wonderful that people of the commonwealth participate in their democracy, why would we register those who have not asked to vote?

As far as we know, there are 680,000 people who are completely content not to register to vote and may have no interest in punching a ballot, ever.

Automatic voter registration would mean spending money on a problem that does not exist. Low voter turnout is considered by many to be a problem, but voter registration is not. Anybody who wants to register can go and register. If people don’t want to leave their houses and go to a polling place, so be it. There is a way to participate in the process. It is not hard to do. If they don’t want to get involved we should not make them.

If someone is so totally disengaged from all of the aspects of life that voting can impact, how much do we want that person affecting our lives?

The right to vote was hardfought for many in this country and it served to open the door to true equality. Now the commonwealth of Massachusetts looks to cheapen our most-sacred privilege by handing it out people who could never appreciate its true value. It is also fair to ask just how we are going to make sure that noncitizens aren’t automatically added to the voter rolls. We know that many of our elected officials are openly and enthusiastically pushing for voting rights for noncitizens. Do we believe that they’ll work to ensure proper vetting when it comes to automatic voter registration?

More and more, this bill looks like a solution — more than likely an expensive one — in search of a problem.

We have it good in this country. We know in our hearts that, since its inception, our country has depended on a level of civic responsibility and we have risen to the challenge for generations. We get informed, we get registered and we get to the polls. The privilege of voting should never be a byproduct of a government transaction. It is immoral to minimize it in such a way. In fact every government transaction is merely a byproduct of our voting.

Abraham Lincoln said, “Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”

Gov. Baker should veto the bill.

We should be encouraging people to participate in the election process organically. If it is not worth their time or energy to know what city hall is, to know where it is, to get inside and to register to vote then perhaps we’ll all be the better for it.

Apathy will always abound when a civilization has as much bounty as ours does. People have a right to turn their back on the fire. The people who care enough about freedom gave them that right. They got involved. Let’s respect them.