Hans van Zijst - #voterregistration

"I still don’t get it, the idea of voter registration.

I’ve read a few articles on Wikipedia, starting with this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_registration

But I only read where and how you should register, but never why. What I read over and over again for countries where no registration is necessary, is a remark like “no need to register, as this country knows who’s a resident and eligible to vote”. The same has to go for the US, right? Some government agency must have a list of all its residents, I presume?

It has been argued that some registration requirements deter some people (especially disadvantaged people) from registering and therefore exercising their right to vote, resulting in a lower voter turnout.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_registration_in_the_United_States

That makes sense, especially in a system where you can isolate voters by location. We’d call it election fraud, but apparently the word is “gerrymandering”. I remember the news, years ago, about Jeb Bush making sure the unwanted voters were kept out:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/06/uselections2000.usa

I think Trump and his henchmen have read this article too, especially this part:

There are a number of people who are so displeased with the outcome of the election that they would do almost anything to cast a cloud over the legitimacy of the election and the legitimacy of this administration.

Only, of course, he left the “almost” out of his actions. Let’s hope he goes to jail for that, but that’s another matter. Back to voter registration. Why?

If it’s really all about keeping control over who gets to vote and who doesn’t, how come there haven’t been endless waves of lawsuits to get this system off the table? And if it’s about something else: what?"