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The July 20 deadline is getting close, which probably explains why there are all these well-meaning announcements that urge people to hurry up and register in time to vote in the Aug. 14 primary.
Encouraging Americans to be registered voters sounds wholesome and democratic, but has anybody thought beyond the textbook platitudes?
The more voters there are to reach, the more it costs to reach them. In the off-year election of 1982, there were 120 million registered voters in the United States, and congressional and senate candidates spent $342 million on their campaigns. In 1986, there were 141 million registered voters, and those campaigns spent $451 million.
Granted, there was some inflation. Consumer prices rose 13 percent during those four years. But campaign spending went up by 32 percent, in order to reach 21 million more voters.
If the do-gooders of civic responsibility got their way, and everybody eligible was a registered voter, then the cost of the average House campaign would rise from $532,000 to $692,000, and for the Senate, from $7.25 million to $9.4 million. Their campaign committees would need to raise $135 million more than they do now.
We already have enough trouble with senators pulling strings in exchange for $100,000 campaign contributions, or with representatives writing tax laws that will please their PAC contributors -- who provided 18 percent of their campaign funds in 1982, and 36 percent in 1988.
If we get more registered voters, we'll just increase the costs of campaigning. That means the candidates will need more campaign contributions -- from PACs, bankers, trade associations, etc. -- and the result is even more sleaze in Washington.
Further, the broader the electorate, the more the candidate must pander to the lowest common denominator. In the days when few Americans could vote, presidential elections once focused on issues like Manifest Destiny and slavery. Now we get Willie Horton and the Pledge of Allegiance. With 100 percent voter registration, Dan Quayle's campaign commercials will feature mutant turtles and Elvis imitators.
A more practical consideration is that juries are generally drawn from the list of registered voters, who tend to be responsible sorts. Get everybody registered, and street punks could indeed be tried -- and acquitted -- by juries of their peers.
It sounds so proper to encourage people to register to vote. But the inevitable result would be increased corruption, campaigns that are even more moronic, and a crime wave of tsunami proportions. If you're truly civic-minded, you'll do your best to discourage people from registering. America has enough problems without more voters.
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