Congress Must Foot the Bill for Motor Voter
The state of Michigan has isolated itself out as one of the few states to not comply with the Motor Voter law, a federal
mandate requiring states to offer voter registration at a variety of locations, in addition to those at which it has
traditionally bee
n offered. The most prominent of these is, of course, at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), hence the name Motor
Voter. This bill, which has long had support from celebrities and pop icons such as MTV, is geared towards increasing the
number of peopl
e who register to vote, especially from lower income levels.
Michigan objects to this law on the basis that its mandates are not funded by the federal government; the
federal
government is taking the credit while the states must bear the financial burden. Furthermore, Michigan already offers
voter registration at t
he DMV, and has for almost ten years.
This issue confronts the very concept of unfunded federal mandates. As popular media bring Congress and the
White House
back into the family room, politicians are increasingly offering legislation geared towards attracting the attention and
quick favor of
their constituents, rather than adequately tackling issues. Unfunded mandates are popular parts of this strategy. Often
these mandates are coupled with little enforcement or specific requirement, so that, while on the surface they seem to be
glorious sol
utions to societal ills, they simply force the states to deal with the issue, but in compliance with the beliefs of
national government.
The funding of federal mandates is vital to the balance of states rights. If the federal government does not
believe in
a problem strongly enough to appropriate part of its budget into correcting it, it should allow states to make their
decisions individ
ually. The states are already burdened with enough sources needing their budgetary money, and do not need politicians on
Capitol Hill burdening them further.
While it is wrong for Michigan and other states not to be funded in enacting Motor Voter, the majority of states
are
nevertheless in compliance, while Michigan is not. Some are charging that this is harming minorities and urban lowÐincome
groups. This may
or may not be statistically true, but it is true that these groups can more easily register in other states, and
therefore the potential exists for certain groups of citizens in Michigan to be underrepresented in national voting.
For this reason, an issue like voter registration must remain uniform accross the states, lest uneven voting
practices
skew the democratic nature of national elections. This is a big part of the reason the law was created by the federal
government in the
first place. When voters are given more incentive to register in one state than in another, the concept of one man, one
vote is endangered. This means that any major change in the voting process must be made federally, and must effect all
people equally
, regardless of what state they live in. This leaves only one option: the federal government, having passed a Motor Voter
bill, must now stand behind it, and foot the bill.