TERRE HAUTE —
Indiana has taken a great technological leap forward by allowing Hoosiers to register to vote online.
The service was launched last week and brings yet another portion of the voting process closer to the people. By simply using a computer, a citizen can access a website (www.indianavoters.com) to submit a voter registration application.
While other states remain squeamish about putting such a sensitive exercise into a relatively new electronic realm, Indiana becomes the eighth state to provide the service.
The Indiana General Assembly, which passed legislation creating the online site, and Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita are right to push the state’s voter registration process into this area. People who use the Internet daily use many of these same tools to perform far more sensitive actions, such as online banking or product purchasing. Why shouldn’t these same tools be incorporated into the process of voter registration?
This new method has security checks to guard against fraud. Residents must have a valid Indiana driver’s license or state-issued identification card to submit a new voter registration application or to update an existing voter registration record. Voters will instantly receive a confirmation of their application that can be printed. Once confirmed, the county voter registration office will make the final approval or rejection of applicants based on criteria such as appropriate residency.
Historically, Indiana’s record for making access to the voting process easy and convenient has not been good. Online voter registration begins to improve that record. With this technology in place, we would hope the state would turn its attention to other areas that need improvement, such as shortening the amount of time between the registration deadline and Election Day.
Currently, that gap is one full month. The same types of tools and technology that make online registration possible can also be employed to close that ridiculous time lag between registration deadline and voting.
Still, the state is moving in the right direction. Keep it going.
Editorials
TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Taking tech into the voting arena
State on track with online registration
- Editorials
-
-
EDITORIAL: Indiana 641 — slow but sure
One could state that observing the construction of Indiana 641 through southeastern Vigo County is like watching paint dry. But that would not be accurate. Paint dries more quickly. Much more quickly.
-
EDITORIAL: Drug-testing bill lacks fairness and decency
The current session of the Indiana Legislature has produced plenty of initiatives that play well to the majority party’s base.
-
EDITORIAL: Keep religion out of science class
An uncertain fate remains for an Indiana Senate bill that would, if it were to become law, allow public schools to teach creationism and other origin-of-life theories in their classes. But this fight may have already been grounded.
-
EDITORIAL: Delivering on infrastructure
With national, state and local economies showing distinct signs of recovery from the Great Recession of 2008, it is good to hear Mayor Duke Bennett sounding optimistic about Terre Haute and its immediate future.
-
EDITORIAL: Volunteer ‘army’ serving the needs of children
You know, of course, that casa means house. But do you also know that its all-capitals cousin, CASA, means home?
-
EDITORIAL: Big dreams do come true
Consider this Super Bowl Sunday to be proof that anything is possible.
-
EDITORIAL: Big ‘kick’ from a native son
Every player in Sunday’s Super Bowl is from somewhere. But not every player remembers where he’s from and reaches out to consistently help those back home. Not like Steve Weatherford. Make that not like Terre Haute’s Steve Weatherford.
-
EDITORIAL: Smoking ban good enough
When it comes to getting things done in the Indiana General Assembly, progress is often measured in baby steps. Indeed, it can take years to achieve even meager accomplishments.
-
EDITORIAL: United Way’s strong reputation helps sustain community trust
It would be foolish in any community to take “positives” for granted, but it’s easy to understand how a casual observer would assume that United Way of the Wabash Valley will always come through with flying colors.
-
EDITORIAL: Nothing sexy about human trafficking
When kickoff comes at the 2012 Super Bowl, expectations will be high for a fun, competitive, fanatical contest between the two survivors of the NFL’s regular season.
-
EDITORIAL: The law’s good ‘Shepard’
Under the radar and against the backdrop of the fractious right-to-work battle going on in Indianapolis, one of state’s leading public servants delivered his valedictory in typical understated, even quiet, style two weeks ago. And before Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard slips away into retirement, his work needs to be acknowledged and praised.
-
EDITORIAL: Cops at risk
Indiana lawmakers are playing with a loaded gun in a bill that passed the Indiana Senate Monday, 45-5.
-
TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Helping your community, a few mouse clicks at a time
When you type WabashValleyGives.org into your web browser, hundreds of opportunities to help your local community will open on the screen before you.
-
EDITORIAL: Raves around the town
To begin the week, we are raving about these recent pieces of local news:
-
EDITORIAL: Let Hoosiers have a say on right-to-work bill
Indiana legislators, both Republican and Democrat, may claim to know the will of the people on right-to-work.
-
EDITORIAL: Thin ice winter’s deadly scourge
Six-year-old Trevor Wayne Young of Nashville, Ind., and 50-year-old Allen D. Johnson of Galva, Ill., probably had little in common — except the way they died.
-
EDITORIAL: Meeting needs at St. Ann's
The caliber of a community often is revealed by its efforts to help its least fortunate citizens.
-
EDITORIAL: A sweet deal for Amazon.com
That loud lip-smack on the cheek you heard echoing from Indianapolis last week was the sound of Gov. Mitch Daniels kissing off on what amounts to another sweetheart deal between Indiana and Amazon.com, the online retailing giant.
-
EDITORIAL: A new era for growth
The promised announcement of a major new industry for the former Pfizer property in southern Vigo County turned out to be well worth the wait.
-
EDITORIAL: Transparency a worthy goal
Do taxpayers have the right to know specific details of contracts between elected school boards and superintendents they hire to run their operations?
-
EDITORIAL: Shakir Bell’s success gives boost to Sycamore football
Hope inspires progress. It’s the fuel for a better future.
-
EDITORIAL: Inspiration for the future
Hope inspires progress. It’s the fuel for a better future.
-
EDITORIAL: Put teeth in public access laws
Indiana’s laws governing public access, as good as they are, lack something important — teeth. There are no significant consequences for agencies or employees who intentionally violate them.
-
EDITORIAL: Time for teamwork in Sullivan
The beginning of a new mayoral term in any community is — or should be — a time when the talk of the town is rife with ideas, improvements and changes.
-
EDITORIAL: Lawmakers should leave IHSAA, high school basketball alone
In an idyllic world, Indiana could restore its fabled single-class high school basketball state tournament, and thousands of fans would pour into gymnasiums from Angola to Corydon in hopes of witnessing another “Milan Miracle” year after year after year.
-
EDITORIAL: ‘Anthem’ proposal way off key
Remember Faith Hill’s impassioned rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl in 2000?
-
EDITORIAL: Back from the access brink
It took almost a week, but Gov. Daniels finally stepped up and did the right thing on Wednesday, rescinding new rules aimed at restricting the number of people allowed in the Statehouse during this session of the General Assembly.
-
EDITORIAL: Poor decision by local Dems
By a little after 4 this afternoon, Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett will have been sworn in for a second term and City Councilman-elect Robert All will have taken the oath of office for the first time.
-
EDITORIAL: Be it resolved …
Resolutions for 2012 are top-of-mind today.
-
EDITORIAL: Another slice of Classic history
Baseball is the so-called American pastime, but to Hoosiers and to our Illinois neighbors, it’s basketball that gets a community’s blood pumping. And no form of roundball does that any more intimately than high school basketball, whether boys or girls. College hoops is great, but nothing quite beats the packed, overheated confines of a high school gym when a tight game turns on every possession, every shot, every rebound, every pass, every defensive position. The sing-song of cheerleaders, the shrillness of a ref’s whistle, the squeak of gym shoes on hardwood, the shouted instructions from the benches, the aroma of popcorn — those form a Midwestern tableau unlike any other.
- More Editorials Headlines
-
EDITORIAL: Indiana 641 — slow but sure








