American Civil Liberties Union

It's Super Tuesday. Many Ohioans voted early, but early voting could be restricted if a bill pending in the legislature passes and cuts the early voting period by more than half.

Did you hear the one about the Florida teacher who registered students to vote but was fined $1,000 when she didn’t turn the forms in right away?

Actually, it’s no joke. Then again, it might be, as Stephen Colbert was good enough to show us last week on The Colbert Report.

What are raising his hackles, according to the ACLU of Florida, are do-gooders like this teacher who have the temerity to lead by example. In a segment on the program, Colbert, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, found truthiness in attempts by Sunshine State officials to sunset various ways to make it easier to vote there.

Even though we pride ourselves as a beacon of democracy around the world, a recent Pew Report revealed that we are falling far short of our ideals. We are one of the few democratic nations in the world that imposes on voters the burden of registration. This has significant costs, both in real dollars and to our democracy. In this modern age, our registration system is almost entirely paper-based. When this is coupled with the requirement that voters re-register each time they move in our highly mobile world, it is hardly shocking that nearly a quarter of eligible voters remain unregistered and that this burden falls disproportionately on the mobile, young, low-income, and those serving in our nation’s armed services. The study’s findings are especially dismaying in light of the sustained attack on our fundamental right to vote, which willfully ignores the real problems plaguing our system of elections.