The California legislature is considering a bill that would provide a path to 100% voter registration by expanding the state’s Motor Voter Program so that it automatically signs up people who are eligible but unregistered to vote at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Introduced by Senators Caroline Menjivar and Monique Limón, the legislation (SB846) seeks to sign up approximately five million more voters. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, 21.9 million of California’s 26.9 million eligible adults were registered as of May 2022. Registered voters, according to the PPIC’s report, tend to be whiter, older and more affluent than the larger pool of people who are eligible to vote.
Though the longshot bill is being held in what is known as a “suspense file,” and isn’t going to approved this year, it could be passed before next year’s elections. The Senate appropriations committee designated it as a two-year bill, meaning it has a chance at survival if passed by January 31, 2024. Similar legislation introduced by Sen. Josh Newman in 2021 passed the Senate but died in the Assembly.
The bill also has strong support from groups hoping to boost turnout among newer voters.
Last week, community leaders, advocates, and organizers representing labor, faith-based, Black, Asian, Latino, women and youth organizations rallied for the legislation at the state Capitol. Some of those supporters — part of the California Grassroots Democracy Coalition, which is comprised of over 100 organizations — said they hope the law will “expand the electorate to better reflect the state’s diversity.”
One community leader argued that the U.S. is an outlier in voting rules by putting the onus of voter registration on the individual.
“Most advanced democracies put the burden on the government to make sure eligible individuals are registered to vote,” said Amy Hamblin, an advisor for NextGen Policy. “There’s no reason that voter registration…
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