What is Same Day Voter Registration?

What is same day voter registration (SDR)? Why would we want to implement that anyway? According to the National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL) , SDR is a process that allows:   "any qualified resident of the state to go to the polls or an election official's office on Election Day, register that day, and then vote."
 http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/same-day-registration.aspx

Currently, ten states plus the District of Columbia allow SDR. Two other states, California and Illinois, will soon be joining them. California will implement as soon as CA's Secretary of State certifies that the state has a statewide voter registration database that, "complies with the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (no sooner than January 2014)." Illinois will implement SDR only for 2014 election on November 4 and only in select location. In addition, Utah has a "Pilot project" to test SDR that will run through 2016.

So what's the big deal with SDR? Whom does it benefit? What are the possible problems? At first glance, it seems like a great idea. Many young people are very mobile and often forget to change their voter registrations in the process of moving. Then, when election day comes, they aren't able to vote in their new location. SDR would seem to help get them to the polls. Possible problems come in with assuring the process is implemented without fraud. First, in order to use SDR, a citizen has to furnish proof of residency and proof of voter identification. Then, many states also apply various other methods to guard against fraud. See the link above. The SDR process works and many people can benefit. Now, ask yourself why so many Republicans are against it. I think we know. They don't want that population voting. They know they will lose if more young people vote. That is why we Democrats need to support efforts to move state toward SDR.  For another view on this subject, see this:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/16/1330145/-Republicans-suppress-because-they-ve-lost-America

Pat Taylor Fuller is an Editor for Progressive Democrats - Moving Forward, Not Back, and she has a blogspot named Pat's Commentaryhttp://pageposts1123.blogspot.com/