To: Vera McCormick, Kanawha County Clerk and Karen Cole, Cabell County Clerk
Stop the next Kim Davis of voting rights
Drop the voting vigilante act and do your jobs. Process the online voter registrations that come through your office instead of making eligible voters jump through hoops to make their voices heard.
Why is this important?
These two West Virginia county clerks could be the next Kim Davises of voting rights.
Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick and Cabell County Clerk Karen Cole have rejected at least 1,300 online voter registrations. Now, would-be voters have to sign paper affidavits and snail mail them back -- defeating the entire purpose of online registration.
McCormick and Cole say they're worried about fraud, -- but online voter registration is actually much safer than the old-fashioned way. In a Pew study, officials in seven states that've tried it "highlighted reduced opportunities for fraud as a major benefit of online voter registration."
And since anyone who fakes their online registration can forge a signature too, these clerks aren't even making the process safer. They're just wasting time that potential voters don't have -- since anyone who wants to vote in the state's primary election needs to be registered by April 19th.
We can't let these self-proclaimed voting vigilantes disenfranchise eligible voters with needless bureaucratic obstacles. West Virginia's online voter registration system is a huge step forward for voters that these clerks should be cheering as public officials.
Sign your name and tell them their job is to make it easier -- not harder -- for Americans to make themselves heard at the polls.
Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick and Cabell County Clerk Karen Cole have rejected at least 1,300 online voter registrations. Now, would-be voters have to sign paper affidavits and snail mail them back -- defeating the entire purpose of online registration.
McCormick and Cole say they're worried about fraud, -- but online voter registration is actually much safer than the old-fashioned way. In a Pew study, officials in seven states that've tried it "highlighted reduced opportunities for fraud as a major benefit of online voter registration."
And since anyone who fakes their online registration can forge a signature too, these clerks aren't even making the process safer. They're just wasting time that potential voters don't have -- since anyone who wants to vote in the state's primary election needs to be registered by April 19th.
We can't let these self-proclaimed voting vigilantes disenfranchise eligible voters with needless bureaucratic obstacles. West Virginia's online voter registration system is a huge step forward for voters that these clerks should be cheering as public officials.
Sign your name and tell them their job is to make it easier -- not harder -- for Americans to make themselves heard at the polls.