Scott Walker is not impressed with Wisconsin citizens' efforts to participate in the democratic process and over the weekend he implied that he'd like to shut that whole thing down.
Gov. Scott Walker signaled in a weekend speech that he may push for elimination of same-day voter registration, saying he thinks Wisconsin would be "much better" without it. One critic called it a "terrible" idea. [...]
However, he was critical of the practice that has been cited as a factor in Wisconsin's traditionally high voter turnout. About 70 percent of the voting-age population cast ballots in the presidential election two weeks ago.
"States across the country that have same-day registration have real problems because the vast majority of their states have poll workers who are wonderful volunteers, who work 13-hour days and who in most cases are retirees," Walker said in the speech. "It's difficult for them to handle the volume of people who come at the last minute. It'd be much better if registration was done in advance of election day. It'd be easier for our clerks to handle that. All that needs to be done."
The more noble and responsible thing to do would be to make it easier for citizens to participate, not more difficult. And if your biggest concern is that it's difficult for poll workers to keep up with high turnout, the more logical response would be to expand early voting hours or hire additional workers.
Of course we know Walker and his counterparts in other states aren't really concerned about the work loads of their volunteers or the amount of time it takes to tabulate votes.
Their real concern is people voting for their opponents. Many same-day registrants are students, minorities, or the poor which, as they're aware, aren't their primary constituency.
Scott Walker is a fox and he would like you to trust him with the security of the hen house. He has their best interests in mind. He promises.