California on verge of enacting universal (automatic) voter registration

Update to California following Oregon’s lead on universal (automatic) voter registration.

The California Senate approved a universal (automatic) voter registration bill last week with some minor amendments that will require the Assembly to vote on the amended version of the bill. Final approval of the bill could come as early as this week. California moving toward automatic voter registration:

The nation’s largest state may be about to make it much easier to register and vote.

California’s Senate passed a bill Thursday by a 24-15 vote that would automatically register to vote anyone who gets or renews a driver’s license, unless they chose to opt out. The state Assembly already passed a similar bill in June. If the Senate version passes an Assembly vote, as expected, the measure would head to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown.

Brown, a Democrat, hasn’t taken a public position on the bill, and a spokesman for his office declined to comment on pending legislation. But in 2012 he signed legislation allowing Californians to register and vote on the same day.

Another provision that Arizona should enact to eliminate the use of provisional and conditional provisional ballots, thousands of which are never counted.

Automatic voter registration is fast gaining traction in blue states as a way to expand access to voting, after record low turnout in last fall’s midterms. In March, Oregon became the first state to enact the reform, prompting legislators in 17 states, plus the District of Columbia and both houses of the U.S. Congress, to introduce similar bills. It gained further momentum in June when Hillary Clinton backed the idea in a major campaign speech on voting rights.

New Jersey lawmakers have passed an automatic voter registration bill, but Gov. Chris Christie, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, looks unlikely to sign it.  “I don’t think that people ought to be automatically registered to vote,” Christie said in June. “Is it really too much to ask to ask someone to fill out a form?”

In California, where Secretary of State Alex Padilla played a major role in pushing for the bill, nearly 7 million people are eligible to vote but not registered. In Los Angeles’s March election, just 10% of eligible voters went to the polls. That’s left political leaders and good government advocates looking for ways to boost turnout.

“Voter registration still stands as a significant impediment to voter participation in our state,” said Sen. Ricardo Lara, a Democrat and a supporter of the bill.

Every Senate Republican who voted opposed the bill. Sen. Jeff Stone said it would “further undermine the integrity of our election system”—though there’s little evidence that automatic registration would increase fraud.

There is no evidence — the state makes the determination who is an eligible voter and automatically registers the voter. The voter doesn’t have to do anything — thus there is no culpable act of “voter fraud” — the voter may “opt out” and choose not to not participate in their civic duty as a U.S. citizen.

I’m still waiting on you, Secretary of State Michele Reagan, to propose universal (automatic) voter registration and same day voter registration, i.e., portability of voter registration (to correct address changes) to eliminate the use of provisional and conditional provisional ballots.

UPDATE: The Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law has a breakdown of each of the pending efforts at the state level.