W-a-a-a-y back in my college days, I decided that simply expressing an interest would be a sufficient way of separating the wheat from the chaff. My favorite idea is based on the old “town meetings” that (rumor has it) used to be held in New England towns many years ago.

Simply require that people attend at least one meeting of their local government in order to vote. Where I live, Town Council and Planning Commission meetings are normally attended ONLY by the members themselves. I’ll bet that would eliminate a whole bunch of people who shouldn’t be voting.

My Republican friends should like that. They’re always trying to stop Democratic efforts to expand the voter base under the theory that marginal voters are more likely to be Democratic voters. For example, the Washington County Commission doesn’t like the vote-by-mail that was conducted experimentally in a few communities in the last election.

But I’d sure be willing to find out.