the.com/voter registration
democracy's guest list — if you're not on it, you're not getting in.
means the government paperwork ritual that turns a citizen into an actual eligible voter before any ballot counts.
from originated in 19th-century america partly as an anti-fraud measure, though early versions were also weaponized to block black and poor voters with poll taxes and literacy tests wrapped around the process.
global outlierUS requires opt-in; many democracies auto-register citizens.
deadline trapmissed cutoffs disqualify more people than any law.
turnout linkcountries with automatic registration vote more, consistently.