In the early days of Obamacare, conservatives howled at the prospect that new customers would get to register to vote when they enrolled in the program. It was going to be like another ACORN, god forbid.
As I recall it, this was not a fight the Obama administration wanted. It was focused on just getting Obamacare up and running. Period. They weren’t looking to make waves or change the status quo on voting registration, so they just let it ride.
But now voting rights groups are like, okay, we’ve cut you some slack, but it’s time now. And not just because in the abstract it’s the right thing to do but because federal voting law requires it, so there’s a threat of a lawsuit in the mix. Expect the howling from conservatives to recommence. But it’ll also be interesting to see how the administration handles it.
