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How do they know you are a citizen?
How do they know in what political division your vote should be counted?
For local referenda, how do they know what issues you are eligible to vote on?
Whatever means are in use to get you the right ballot is what you use for "registration".
For germany:
Everybody has an identity card. And you will be sent an election letter which you then show there. It has your Voter-ID and district number on it.
Well the voting happens inside the respective districts. Plus you have the number on your letter.
No such thing in germany.
In the US there is no "national ID" everything is linked to like other countries. We used to be strongly privacy minded as a country (weird I know). So that as left is some rather weird legacy problems. Hence having the register to vote.
Its kinda weird for germany too. After having a total surveillance state twice in our history you'd think we had something against it. And we are in general very privacy minded. But the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
Bullshit. You didn't understand my question. I'll rephrase and elaborate.
Not every issue is a national issue. You vote on issues in your locality that someone living across the country is not eligible to vote on. They vote on issues in their locality that you are not eligible to vote on.
For example, In my state, schools are funded at the district level through property taxes. I vote on the tax rate in my school district; someone across the state votes on the tax rate in their district. (Generally, districts and cities are at the same level, but sometimes two or more cities will combine into a single school district, so they are technically separate.).
Zoning issues are at the city level. I can vote on zoning issues in my city; I can't vote on zoning issues in another city.
We had a state-level abortion issue on my last ballot: individuals residing in other states were not eligible to vote on my state's issue.
My point is that you have similar need for registration, it's just done automatically alongside the process of getting your ID.
Generally, we register to vote in the same process as getting or renewing our ID cards. That first ID card might be a driver's license issued at 16, a learner's permit at 15, a moped license at 14. Passports and state IDs can be issued at even younger ages, but we are not eligible to vote until 18. Our first ID generally doesn't include voter registration, simply because we aren't yet eligible. People who turn 18 since the last general election will need to register separately.
Some people have dual residency. "Snowbirds" are retirees who spend their summers in a northern state, and the winters in Florida. They are only eligible to vote in one state or the other, but technically qualify to vote in either. We vote in November; these snowbirds will be in Florida at the time, and will need absentee ballots to vote in their northern elections. Absentee ballots are only issued to registered voters.
You are the one that does not seem to understand. There is no such thing as voting on issues at all in germany. We elect the political party we believe will tackle the problem in the way that aligns with our desired outcome. But the ordinary citizen has no say in the matter directly.
There is no voting on tax rate, zoning, abortion or whatever. Nowhere in germany. Neither localy nor nationwide. The only thing that could possibly be comparable would be a referendum where, for example, you have to collect 1 million votes and then you can submit this to the state as a request. But there is no guarantee they will even accept it.
Really. Interesting.
I find it hard to believe you have zero direct democracy, even at local levels, but I have little reason to doubt you.
I don't trust the politician-class enough to support such a system.
I would not say that i fully trust our politicans, but there are significant checks and restrictions in place.
I mean, we had an all-encompassing totalitarian state that had absolute control over the country (or at least parts of it) 2 times in our history. We kinda learned the one or another thing from that.
And about the direct democracy thing. There have been and continue to be efforts to introduce more options. And I was an advocate myself for the longest time of my life.
But after seeing how some of the population behaved during Covid and how they are currently behaving in the East (where an ultra-right wing party has taken power) I'm not sure it's a wise idea to give more direct power to an uninformed, easily manipulated mob.
But thats a topic for another time.
Y'all's conversation has been really enlightening.
"Enlightening conversation" is a bit of a euphemism in my community. I'm a balloon pilot. The way we "enlighten" our aircraft is by filling them with hot air...
Tldr: at least half of the government doesn't want you to be able to vote because they think you'll vote for the other party. Welcome to America isn't it great.