It happens at the same time you get your driver’s license or ID card, and you only have to answer 11 questions. That sounds like a good idea to me, and I hope it helps to push back “election integrity” concerns. Story: Pennsylvania rolls out automatic voter registration
Many, many states have so-called motor-voter registration already. And have had for 30+ years. Nice of PA to join the 20th century. But yes, good news to be applauded and to be publicized through all available means.
Now we just need to prevent people from being unknowingly de-registered.
So far Shapiro has done a good job as Gov. Upon re-reading, it doesn’t say how this came about: was it a law passed, or just an executive action by Shapiro?
I may not quite understand this as we already had motor voter. This article is from 2017:
Pennsylvania changing ‘Motor Voter’ to keep noncitizens from registering to vote
It seems they changed a switch in the driver license web user interface from voter registration opt-in to opt-out, and made some other software updates:
Press Release
It does not seem that a change to the law was required.
It’s not quite the same. With motor voter, when you apply for a license (say) you are asked if you want to register to vote. With this new system, when you apply for a license you are automatically registered to vote unless you specifically decline. It’s “opt out” instead of “opt in”. And tons of research shows that can make a huge difference in response rate.
I had thought the same “opt out” system was used in organ donation registration, but it appears not to be the case. Huh.
What, the Republicans aren’t melting down over this yet? Did they sleep late this morning?
If Pennsylvania is issuing Real ID drivers licenses by default, they’ll have proof of the applicant’s citizenship and place of residence. Presumably they don’t auto register non-US citizens, so what’s the problem?
Generally, my impression is if I’m a Republican, more voting is bad. Easier voting is bad. It’s kind of reflexive with them, isn’t it? I hope I am not being too snarky but I’d think they’d at least object to the concept of automatic opt-in, rather than each citizen having to take an active step to opt in. I’ll be very happy to be wrong about this, of course.
Don’t know the current status, but in years past Republicans have tried to repeal the original 1993 law (which was vetoed by George H. W. Bush but signed by Clinton).
House Republicans introduce bill to repeal ‘motor voter’ law over fraud fears (2020)
Republicans Are Trying to Kill a Key Voting Rights Law (2018)
Bill would repeal the 1993 “Motor Voter” law which allows people to register to vote at the DMV (2021)
They wont be concerned with this - registering people to vote is one thing, but getting them to actually vote is another. How does PA fare with mail-in ballots? Are there restrictions on the number of polling places (especially in “specific” neighborhoods)? Are voting hours restricted? Because those are the tip of the spear.
They might like it, because statistics show that voters who don’t have driver’s licenses are more likely to be poor minorities who overwhelmingly vote Democratic. That’s one reason why strict voter ID laws get passed; it helps prevent the “wrong” people from voting. This law might help the “right” people vote more easily, so it might in theory be a benefit to them.
Just speculating here, I am not basing this off of any research. It is a total WAG.