Spencer Overton on Universal Voter Registration
"The best way to curb fraud by voter-registration and voter-mobilization groups is for the United States to follow many other democracies and adopt universal voter registration. Rather than trying to distinguish fraudulent voter-registration groups from legitimate ones with excessive regulation, states should assume responsibility for registering all eligible individuals to vote. Politicians might be reluctant - because it would diminish their ability to target their registration efforts to doctor the composition of the electorate, and it would mean that any disgruntled group of voters would face fewer hurdles in expressing frustration at the polls. But universal registration would eliminate concerns about fraud by voter registration groups, and it would have the impact of increasing voter participation. Universal registration is also practical - every high school student who is a U.S. citizen could be automatically registered when he or she turns eighteen, and the government could register the remainder of Americans who are not on the voting rolls during the U.S. census count every ten years."
-- Chapter 6: Fraud or Suppression? Pg. 166-167.
Overton, Spencer. Stealing Democracy: The New Politics of Voter Suppression. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.