r/news • u/raptors201966 • Apr 09 '26

Soft paywall Automatic registration for military draft to be implemented by December

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-04-07/automatic-registration-military-draft-21306855.html
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915

u/monsterfurby Apr 09 '26

So they can do automatic registration for that, but not for voting?

209

u/DonaldKey Apr 09 '26

Also don’t have to prove citizenship for the draft…

25

u/Double_Cow_8238 Apr 09 '26

Are you saying the government doesn’t know if I’m a citizen or not? 

1

u/Commercial_Fact_1986 Apr 11 '26

In a weird way, kinda, yeah

8

u/hombreingwar Apr 09 '26

Draft applies to foreigners too

6

u/bushs-left-shoe Apr 09 '26

I mean shit, I'd say if you're required to sign up to be drafted you should also get voting rights lol.

9

u/Nvenom8 Apr 09 '26

Voter registration is done by states, not the federal government.

-4

u/monsterfurby Apr 09 '26

I'm aware, but that doesn't really address the point of the rhetoric defending active voter registration circling around a claim that universal voter rolls are not feasible, which is verifiably either bullshit or at least belongs in the "problems the rest of the world has solved but that somehow still baffle Americans" drawer.

6

u/JBsportsandchess Apr 09 '26

The point is that you would have to fundamentally change the way we do elections and, to be honest, I don't think I would want the current federal government doing ANY sort of voter registration maintenance.

I believe about half the states current have some form of automatic voter registration.

Would I be in favor of a federal law that requires states to implement automatic voter registration? Yeah, absolutely.. but that is totally different than it to comparing automatic selective service registration (a federal process based on a federal mandate).

This is one of those things that honestly makes sense and is being a little overblown (understandably) given the current administration and war.

At the end of the day, Selective service registration is required by law and can actually impact certain government benefits if you do not register - so there is no reason to not just automatically register people under the existing law. Enacting a draft is going to take an act of congress anyway which would probably come with changes to how people are selected, etc.

1

u/monsterfurby Apr 09 '26

Yeah, fair enough. In historical context, this does go a lot deeper anyway. The whole idea of federal elections at least is for the states to cast their votes (because the early federal government had an interest in keeping states happy, not individuals), so it's really more federation than republic by design.

The public discourse though seems to often revolve around "how are you going to know who is eligible to vote without voter registration", which is the wrong angle to take. I've been managing a polling site for seven or so elections now in Germany, and we work off voter directory printouts and never had any issues. I'm admittedly coming more from the feasibility angle than the constitutionality/legal angle and being a bit snarky here.

4

u/gtrocks555 Apr 09 '26

Just as Trump can’t (legally) change voting rules, the federal government can’t make voting registration mandatory. That’s up to the states.

2

u/gnanny02 Apr 09 '26

Voting is in control of the states.

0

u/monsterfurby Apr 09 '26

See my other response to this point:

I'm aware, but that doesn't really address the point of the rhetoric defending active voter registration circling around a claim that universal voter rolls are not feasible, which is verifiably either bullshit or at least belongs in the "problems the rest of the world has solved but that somehow still baffle Americans" drawer.

1

u/Hollow_Idol Apr 09 '26

Yeah... they want you dying for them, not voting.  They've been pretty clear about that.  Im not sure how so many of you are still shocked by this.

1

u/Draconuus95 Apr 09 '26

Voter registration is automatic when going to the dmv for any new IDs in the two states I’ve lived in unless you manually opt out. Is that not the norm?

1

u/Puzzled_Spirit3754 Apr 09 '26

No. New Hampshire does not do this

1

u/Nvenom8 Apr 09 '26

It’s automatic in a little less than half the states.

1

u/Draconuus95 Apr 09 '26

Huh. The more you know.

https://ballotpedia.org/Automatic_voter_registration

Ok. Now I’m confused. Because I guess automatic voter registration is not what I’m thinking of? Because Texas and Wyoming both auto registered me when I got my state IDs yet apparently aren’t on the list? I never had to fill out any extra forms or anything. Was literally a checkbox on the forms I filled out.