Re: The April 5 lead editorial, “Our View: COVID will change Election Day traditions” (Page D2):

I don’t think that it is lost on any of us how unprecedented and scary these times are. With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world, I think that a delayed primary and mail-in ballots are two incredible ideas. However, I think that it should be taken a step further.

Thirty-nine states and D.C. have online voter registration. Why shouldn’t Maine join their ranks? Online voter registration would allow Mainers from all walks in life to register quickly, easily, securely and without a printer.

Last fall, I began volunteering and then working for NextGen Maine, a coalition of young people fighting to register and educate young voters in 2020. As a sophomore at Bowdoin College, I registered dozens of people each week in dining halls and libraries, and on sidewalks. While COVID-19 has cut short these invaluable face-to-face meetings, we are still actively mobilizing the youth vote through phone calls, text messages and social media, calling attention to the clear and lasting inequities of the voting system.

While Maine has been a leader on the issue of absentee voting, we can still do better. As you suggest, we should expand vote-by-mail by mailing absentee ballots to all registered voters and encouraging other states to do the same. But this will be insufficient if we don’t follow up with making online voter registration the law in Maine.

Maddie Hikida

Brunswick

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