Improving elections

An interesting study was just released by Tova Wang via The Century Foundation on improving voter turnout. Most of these proposals have been floated out there before, but it's definitely a good read. Note that one of the bullets seems to conflict... at least on its face... with the Supreme Court's holding in LULAC v. Perry (PDF) regarding partisan redistricting. The report is available here (PDF). The suggestions are:

• Voters should be allowed to register up until and on Election Day.
• Election Day should be a national holiday.
• As long as a voter appears at any precinct within the county in which the voter resides, the provisional ballot cast by the voter should be counted for all countywide, statewide and presidential races.
• States should not have restrictive voter identification requirements.
• Social service agencies and departments of motor vehicles must comply with the National Voter Registration Act and provide citizens with an effective opportunity to register to vote.
• Take the partisan politics out of redistricting.
• Extend free media time to candidates.
• Parties and candidates should do more to personally engage voters.

The Dandy Warhols and I agree that Election Day should be a holiday, although I believe their support is a mere corollary to their stance that Every Day Should be a Holiday. This tortured musical reference was brought to you by Capitol Records. Have a good weekend...