Republicans now have reason number 10,392 to hate Obamacare: the website offers the option to register to vote while enrolling. With an estimated one-third of applicants on the Healthcare Marketplace unregistered to vote, the inclusion of this option could be the death knell for the GOP.
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Many people are wondering why the Obamacare website includes the voter registration option, especially since the site has enough problems already with frequent crashes. Needless to say, quite a few Republicans are outraged that the website offers applicants this option and believe it’s a dirty tactic to gain more voters for the Democrats.
What do you think about the Obamacare website including the voter registration option? Respond below.
A side effect of ObamaCare is trolling for votes by offering voter registration as part of the sign up process,
— George Rudolph (@thenewnarrative) October 16, 2013
@ericbolling live in missouri. employee signed on to Obama care. Before any price or plan comes up you are asked about voter registration
— Philipp Pflughaupt (@ppflughaupt) October 15, 2013
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh didn’t mince words on the issue of including the option to register to vote on the Healthcare Marketplace. “The purpose of Obamacare has got nothing to do with your health, and nothing to do with your insurance,” he said. “It’s about building a permanent, undefeatable, always-funded Democrat majority.” Limbaugh also called the Obamacare market exchange plans “voter-registration outreach plans.”
Tim Miller, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, agrees. “The practice raises longstanding suspicions on the right that the ACA exchanges are designed for political as well as regulatory purposes,” said Miller.
The National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also called the “Motor Voter” law, says that government agencies must offer people the opportunity to register to vote. The Obamacare website falls under this category, which is why the option is included.
Democrats believe the outrage over the voter registration option on the Obamacare site is much ado about nothing. They say that the voter registration inclusion could get just as many new Republican voters as Democrats.
“We should all agree that voters should be given the opportunity to participate in the political process,” Eunice Rho, advocacy and policy counsel for ACLU, said. “Why not get at voters when they’re accessing the system in large numbers? It’s a really significant opportunity to expand voting registration.”
One reason the #GOP hates Obamacare so much is because Federal law says exchanges must offer voter registration services. #OneStopDemocracy
— Daniel Beerthuis (@DanielBeerthuis) September 25, 2013