Election Day Registration bill creating 'mixed feelings'« Thread Started on Apr 6, 2007, 3:58am » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Election Day Registration bill creating 'mixed feelings' TIM ROHWER, Staff Writer04/05/2007There are more positives than negatives, one local county auditor said of the Election Day Registration bill signed this week by Gov. Chet Culver. read at source> http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 5106&rfi=6 Another auditor, however, said she has "mixed feelings."The bill allows unregistered voters to register on Election Day at the polling place and vote in a regular manner. There would be no more need to vote a provisional ballot that might not be counted or approved.Currently, Iowa has a deadline day for voter registration prior to an election.Supporters say the new law would increase voter participation. According to a report, states that have this voting method saw a 70 percent participation rate in the 2004 election, compared to a 55 percent rate in those states that didn't have it."I think it could increase voter turnout," said Donna West, deputy auditor for Pottawattamie County. "People who go to the polls and are not registered to vote, they would now be able to do that."Minnesota has had this method for some time, and it's worked well there, said West, a former chief auditor in Adams County."We ought to approach it positively," she said.Officials in the Iowa Secretary of State's office, which oversees the state's election, recently met with their Minnesota counterparts to learn more about this method, West said.It's possible there could some voter fraud activity, she said, such as an individual registering and voting at one location and doing the same at another. But, the County Attorney's office could locate those people from the Social Security number or driver's license number and prosecute them."There would be consequences, but I don't see that as a huge problem," West said.Mills County Auditor Carol Robertson added that the bill could help those individuals who may have moved into an area just after the voter registration deadline. But, it also raises some concerns for her office, Robertson said.The necessary paperwork to be filled out at the polling site could be time consuming and would require more manpower at polls when it's already hard at times to get people to work at elections, she said."We'll have to have another person," Robertson said.Some of the smaller polling places in Mills County don't have an all-county registration list immediately available, which would add time to the process."I would like to see them come to the auditor's office on the same day," Robertson said.Another concern she has is the different language between the Iowa and Minnesota laws on voter fraud prosecution by county attorneys. Minnesota law states that county attorneys "shall" prosecute violators, Robertson said. According to her reading of Iowa's law, county attorneys here "may" prosecute violators, she said.