<\/strong>The deadline for voter registration has come and gone in my state. But the memories linger on. Carrying a clipboard stocked with the 19^{th<\/sup>-century voter registration cards we use in Missouri, and fully equipped with the sense that registering to vote\u2014whether Democrat or Republican\u2014is a beneficial activity, \u00a0I\u2019ve been out there talking to people.<\/p>\n}

[Sidebar: A Republican acquaintance of mine, when told what I\u2019d been up to, and knowing that I\u2019m an Obama supporter, thought he was being clever when he winked and said, \u201cI guess you\u2019ve been doing that in East St. Louis, right?\u201d Around here, that\u2019s code for African-American neighborhoods, and I don\u2019t find racist humor at all amusing.]<\/p>\n

So, if I\u2019m looking for lessons learned from my voter registration activities this year, that might be the first one: We most certainly do not live in a post-racist America.<\/p>\n

Here are a few more. They\u2019re less galling, more nitty-gritty, and, particularly in one instance, actually inspiring:<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

Despite Americas low voter turnout rate, being a registered voter still has cache. What makes me think that? \u00a0Because I\u2019ve observed that people do not want to admit that they are not registered, and that is why, when I walk around with a voter registration clipboard, I\u2019ve learned not to ask, “Are you registered to vote?” Instead, I try to remember to ask them if their voter registration matches their current address, or if they’ve moved since the last time they voted. [I can usually get a laugh if I add to that list, \u201cOr have you entered the witness protection program?\u201d<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

Once you have moved, it can be hard to remember your previous address. Often, when a person is filling out a change of address for voter registration, he\/she has to think hard about the old address. Lesson learned: \u00a0We Americans don\u2019t just move. We move on.<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

People who are ineligible to vote are very well informed about their status. \u00a0Non-citizens. \u00a0Too young (but often looking, to these aging eyes, much older). \u00a0People with a felony conviction. In that instance, the legal system is, apparently doing an excellent job of informing people that they can’t vote .In my state, people with felonies can re-register when they are “off paper,” meaning when they have completed parole. On that point, they seem not as well informed. \u00a0(Suggestion: On that auspicious day when you get off papers, parole officers\u2014or \u00a0somebody\u2014should \u00a0welcome people back into democracy, inform them of their restored civil rights, and perhaps even hand them a voter registration card.)<\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

Too many people, even when offered the chance to register right then and there, decline, for reasons that work directly against their own self interest. I’ve heard a lot of these reasons, and i am certain that others manning the front lines of voter reg can cite many more:”My vote doesn’t count.” Right. Tell that to Missouri State Representative Stacey Newman, who won her primary election by precisely one vote.”The winner is destined to win, and nothing we do can change that.”And here’s my favorite from my most recent go-round: \u00a0“I take my voting advice from Homer Simpson. Homer says, “I \u00a0feel like a real American when i don’t vote.” (Homer has a point. A satirical point. Not a serious point, sir.)<\/p>\n

5.<\/p>\n

And, if you think it is hard to persuade an undecided voter, try convincing an apathetic or uninformed eligible citizen simply to register. \u00a0One young man told me that he doesn’t vote because it doesn’t matter. (I asked, by the way, and his non-voting was not based on religious beliefs.) \u00a0Pressing him a bit I noted that he was just coming from a doctor\u2019s appointment at a federally funded clinic, and I was wondering how that was working for him. “It’s good,” he said. “I really need my Medicaid.” “Hmm. maybe you should vote,” I replied. “If you want Medicaid, you need to vote for people who want to keep it and give it government money.” “Nah,” came the answer. “I just don’t vote.”<\/p>\n

The best and most effective argument for registering to vote that I heard this year came from another volunteer. Trying to persuade a man who was very reluctant to register, she told him her story: \u00a0“I grew up in South Carolina, where my parents couldn’t vote, had to sit in the back of the bus and drink from the \u2018Coloreds Only\u2019 fountain,” she said. \u00a0“Then, in 1965, with the stroke of a pen, we got the Voting Rights Act, and everything changed. And I want you to realize that, with another stroke of another pen, that could all go away again. And that’s why you need to register and then vote.”The young man said he’d think about it, but he walked away. And then, one hour later, he came back and registered to vote for the first time in his life.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why I\u2019m keeping my clipboard.<\/p>\n

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