Wash. gov signs universal voter registration law

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/379282-wa-gov-signs-universal-voter-registration-law

 

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) on Monday signed a package of measures aimed at increasing voter participation that would create potentially hundreds of thousands of new voters — in a state that already has one of the highest turnout rates in the country.

 

Perhaps the most consequential measure is one that would require the state Department of Licensing to automatically register citizens obtaining a state driver’s license or identification card to vote.

 

Washington is the 10th state to implement automatic voter registration in just the last four years, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Proponents of voting rights and voting access say the tactic vastly improves access to the ballot box by requiring voters to opt out of registering, instead of opting in.

 

Oregon, the first state to automatically register voters, added nearly a quarter-million new voters to its rolls in just the first year the program began operating back in 2015. California estimates it will add as many as 6.6 million new voters under its own plan, adopted a few months after Oregon.

 

Inslee said as many as a million Washingtonians who were eligible to register to vote in 2016 didn't register. 

 

“Democracy is served when more people participate,” Inslee said at the bill-signing ceremony at a Seattle-area high school.

 

Among the other measures Inslee signed Monday: A bill to allow voters to register on election day and another bill to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote.

 

Washington will become the 16th state, along with the District of Columbia, to offer same-day voter registration. Those states include California and several Mountain West and New England states.

 

And Inslee signed a new campaign finance law that would require nonprofit groups that donate more than $10,000 a year to political campaigns to register with the state’s election finance watchdog, the Public Disclosure Commission. It is a version of the Disclose Act backed in Congress by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

 

“Voters have the right to know who’s paying for a campaign,” said state Sen. Andy Billig (D), who sponsored the bill. “Whatever you care about in your community, whether it be health care, education or any other issue, it is vital to know who is paying to influence those who are making our laws.”

[Póg mo 1,749]

13 minutes ago, Il Mango Dulce said:

http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/379282-wa-gov-signs-universal-voter-registration-law

 

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) on Monday signed a package of measures aimed at increasing voter participation that would create potentially hundreds of thousands of new voters — in a state that already has one of the highest turnout rates in the country.

 

Perhaps the most consequential measure is one that would require the state Department of Licensing to automatically register citizens obtaining a state driver’s license or identification card to vote.

 

Washington is the 10th state to implement automatic voter registration in just the last four years, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Proponents of voting rights and voting access say the tactic vastly improves access to the ballot box by requiring voters to opt out of registering, instead of opting in.

 

Oregon, the first state to automatically register voters, added nearly a quarter-million new voters to its rolls in just the first year the program began operating back in 2015. California estimates it will add as many as 6.6 million new voters under its own plan, adopted a few months after Oregon.

 

Inslee said as many as a million Washingtonians who were eligible to register to vote in 2016 didn't register. 

 

“Democracy is served when more people participate,” Inslee said at the bill-signing ceremony at a Seattle-area high school.

 

Among the other measures Inslee signed Monday: A bill to allow voters to register on election day and another bill to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote.

 

Washington will become the 16th state, along with the District of Columbia, to offer same-day voter registration. Those states include California and several Mountain West and New England states.

 

And Inslee signed a new campaign finance law that would require nonprofit groups that donate more than $10,000 a year to political campaigns to register with the state’s election finance watchdog, the Public Disclosure Commission. It is a version of the Disclose Act backed in Congress by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

 

“Voters have the right to know who’s paying for a campaign,” said state Sen. Andy Billig (D), who sponsored the bill. “Whatever you care about in your community, whether it be health care, education or any other issue, it is vital to know who is paying to influence those who are making our laws.”

This is good news, but of course naturally certain folks here will automatically pee on the idea, and claim, because of this, the MDL are turning America into another Soviet Union.

[smilesammich 10,727]

the washington licensing department must be completely overwhelmed, the back log must be insane!  i bet washington state is essentially non functioning right now.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Just another step toward a soviet style dictatorship Automatically sign up your comrades and tell them who to vote for.

[bcking 3,157]

1 hour ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

Just another step toward a soviet style dictatorship Automatically sign up your comrades and tell them who to vote for.

People shouldn't have to sign up to vote. If they qualify, it should be automatically granted.

 

Why would you have a problem with laws like this unless you didn't want certain people to vote?

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

30 minutes ago, bcking said:

People shouldn't have to sign up to vote. If they qualify, it should be automatically granted.

 

Why would you have a problem with laws like this unless you didn't want certain people to vote?

Don't you know having people vote is the first step on a slippery slope to Stalanism :

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

I don’t see a problem with automatic sign up to vote.  It’s ironic, however, that it revolves around an ID.  Thought most liberals were against such?