I contend that allowing voters to register and vote on the same day as election day in all states will have a significant impact on improving voter turnout. For those of us who have moved from state to state, it should be a little less burdensome to register to vote than some states make it for us to do. I very much appreciate the same-day voter registration that is available in the state of Wisconsin. If we want more people to participate in the political process and vote, then we need to make it much easier for them to be able to participate and vote. Of course, we will need to make sure that the people are legal residents of the state and meet all other voter eligibility requirements, but we need to make sure that we make registering to vote much easier.

I would like to see us experiment with online voter registration. We should not be so fearful of illegal people being able to vote that we make it more complex for truly eligible voters to register.

I was happy to see the great enthusiasm that the people in the state of Wisconsin and across the nation showed in the 2010 midterm election today. I was also glad to see many people participating in early voting and using absentee ballots. Exercising your right to vote is such an important thing. Don’t let anyone tell you that your vote does not count. Don’t listen to any silly talk from people who say that voting is not an important act because it is.

Once we go and cast our votes, we cannot simply stop there. We must hold the politicians accountable for making sure that they do what they said they were going to do, and we must make sure that they always do what’s in our best interest—not in their own best interest. Never take for granted the free and fair elections that we have in America, because not all countries get to enjoy the great freedom we get to exercise when we vote. I appreciate everyone who went out and exercised his or her right to vote in the 2010 midterm election. May God bless you and may He continue to bless the United States of America!

Antonio Maurice Daniels

University of Wisconsin-Madison