Registering to vote earlier a good idea

It was good to see relatively strong voter turnout in Wisconsin’s April election. Turnout was around 45% statewide, with similar numbers reported in La Crosse. But all those eager voters caused long lines in some polling places, many of them younger voters, college students mostly, who needed to register before they cast their ballots. We can expect the lines to be even longer at the polls in the November election, when turnout is expected to be even higher. Again, it is good to see so many voters, many of them young people, participating in the democratic process. But wouldn’t it be better for everyone if we could encourage people to register earlier, to reduce poll congestion on voting day? Our local university and college campuses could hold voter registration drives well in advance of the next election. Some activist groups have encouraged the state to send a mobile voter registration bus to Wisconsin communities, particularly those with a high population of unregistered voters, but there has been little response. Encouraging early registration would also help avoid problems caused when government servers crashed during the final day of early voting before the election. It certainly would help lessen the lines on election day. Let’s applaud these young people for taking the time to register to vote, but let’s also work to get them registered earlier, to make things go smoothly for the next election.