The Nation : Panel Asks Voter Sign-up

A bipartisan Commission on National Elections called in Washington for a national registration day as a means of increasing voter participation in presidential elections. “We found that people, not the process, were the things that needed to be fixed,” Republican Co-Chairman Melvin R. Laird, a former defense secretary and White House adviser to President Richard M. Nixon, said at a news conference. “We believe that the President should designate one day of 1988 as a registration day, and we believe it will increase participation of eligible voters by 15% to 20%.”