Geoff,

I asked my local councilman the very same question. The answer was that it takes x amount of days to run checks on those who are registering to make sure that they are : legal citizens of the country, have a legal address in the district & state in which they are registering, have NOT registered in two different districts or states, and for criminal background checks. The length of time for these checks varies from state to state because of the size of different states and the laws of different states. That is why in certain states you can register up to 2 weeks before elections to vote, and in other states as much as a month before. What could happen is that if they allowed people to register at the very last minute there would be no time for background checks, or multiple registration checks, and you could get people who vote 2 or 3 times in the election! Let's face it, our election process may still have many flaws in it, but over all it has worked for a very long time and so far no one else has come up with a better system.


Don Cardi