From the Voter Participation Center (http://www.voterparticipation.org/):
On our website and on social media, we’ve been reporting on automatic voter registration programs in Oregon and four other states. The results in those states have been great news if you share our love for American democracy and our desire for the American ideal of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people: hundreds of thousands of voters newly registered, and increased voter participation rates, which ultimately make government more responsive to the people it serves.
Now lawmakers in both houses of the U.S. Congress want to take that success national, with the Automatic Voter Registration Act of 2016. Under this bill, any time an eligible American citizen interacted with a government agency, they’d be automatically registered to vote, unless they declined.
That would mean that every eligible American who registers for classes at a public college, gets a driver’s license, applies for Social Security or public services, or becomes a naturalized citizen wouldn’t have to take an extra step to register to vote. And because voter registration would be happening automatically, the bill would also decrease the costs of voter registration for state and local governments, and make America’s voter rolls more accurate and more secure.
If this bill passes, Americans will be able vote more easily, and state and local governments will have better voter rolls while spending less taxpayer money… that sounds like a winning combination and would drastically increase voter registration for people of color, unmarried women, and millennials — the fast-growing groups that make up the Rising American Electorate. At the Voter Participation Center, we’ve helped to register 3 million members of the Rising American Electorate in the past 12 years and welcome automatic voter registration programs to make our job easier… or someday redundant!
So call your U.S. representative and senators, and urge them to join the growing chorus in Congress to pass the Automatic Voter Registration Act and make American democracy stronger. Find contact information for them:
- Senator Robert Casey: http://casey.senate.gov
- Senator Pat Toomey: http://toomey.senate.gov
- Your Representative: http://www.house.gov
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