Correction: This story has been revised to correct the history
of voter problems in Maine. Should we make voting as easy as
possible so that more people will vote? If we make voting
easier, will many ineligible people vote? When Maine votes on
Nov. 8 on Question 1 — deciding whether to overturn the
Legislature’s plan to end voter registration on future election
days — it will answer these two questions. In recent decades,
Maine has allowed people to register to vote on Election Day,
eliminating the need to register separately and in advance. It
is one of 10 states that have so-called “same-day” registration,
which will still be in effect on Nov. 8. The theory is that
voting is made easier by eliminating the need for advance
registration, so more people will vote. Although many factors
affect turnout, in the 2010 elections, average turnout in the
“same-day” states was 48.3 percent, compared with 40.9 percent
in the United States as a whole. Encouraging voting is American
public policy. For example, the federal