Published: April 26, 2008 07:18 pm            

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORAL: Making voting easier good public policy

Indiana should follow other states’ progress

TERRE HAUTE — The May 6 Indiana primary election campaign over the past few weeks has developed into a smoldering cauldron of political intrigue as the race for the Democratic presidential nomination remains hotly contested.

Polling news over the past few days has done nothing to cool things off. An Indianapolis Star/WTHR-TV poll released Friday has Illinois Sen. Barack Obama leading New York Sen. Hillary Clinton 41 percent to 38 percent. A statewide poll by two northern Indiana news outlets also released Friday have the race even tighter, with Obama leading Clinton 48 percent to 47 percent. Results of both are within the polling margin of error.

The state’s 4.3 million registered voters will be the object of intense attention from candidates and their campaign surrogates the next 10 days. With 72 pledged delegates at stake, there is plenty to fight for.

For those of you who are not registered and let the deadline pass to become eligible, you are out of luck for the primary election. Such is the restrictive nature of an Indiana election law that requires you to register, or change the address on a registration, a full month before Election Day.

We have railed about the state’s voter-unfriendly registration deadline for years. We suspect it will adversely affect a greater number of potential voters this year because of latent voter interest aroused by the presidential race.

It’s true that a citizen must take responsibility for voter registration. The state’s law is no secret, so we understand the view that no sympathy is warranted for those who missed the deadline and now find themselves ineligible to vote in one of the most significant Indiana primary elections in a generation.

What troubles us, however, is that the early deadline is so unnecessary.

Take, for example, what is happening now in North Carolina, which conducts its primary the same day as Indiana. According to the Associated Press, a new law there allows unregistered voters to sign up and vote on the same day through May 3. Both campaigns have launched efforts to turn out those voters, and the polling sites have been flooded since they opened last week.

North Carolina’s effort to make voting easier and more convenient for its residents is good public policy. It also represents a national trend of states taking steps to ease the process.

It is time for Indiana to move toward a less restrictive voter registration deadline as well. The state has already made some advances by allowing for satellite voting sites and early voting. Moving the registration deadline closer to the election would be an encouraging next move.

        

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