Voting Fraud, Registration

As one who has tried to help people register to vote for more than 35 years, I take strong exception to Ira Mehlman’s proposal that we tighten registration and voting procedures (“It’s Too Easy to Vote, Not Too Hard,” Commentary, Jan. 6). I remember the bad old days filled with bureaucratic obstacles to voting and yearlong residency waiting periods.

Mail-in registration has been working smoothly here for 20 years, but only about half the states allowed it. Since registration has become more accessible nationwide through “motor voter,” 12 million more people have been added to the rolls.

If citizens choose not to vote, that is their right. But the easy ability to register should not be denied because of baseless fear of fraud. Finding numerous unrelated voters registered at the same address, or finding one person registered from several addresses, is only evidence of how long it takes for election officials to clear the rolls after a person moves.

Tough registration procedures work a hardship on individual citizens, the very ones who are innocent of deliberate fraud. Ballot boxes were stuffed and the dead voted long before convenient registration existed, and it was done, not by individuals who have nothing to gain, but by organized political parties and candidate campaign staffs. California law includes severe penalties for proven election fraud. Use that law. Don’t give us unnecessary new restrictions.

JEAN ASKHAM

Fullerton