Nevada Could Implement Automatic Voter Registration at the DMV
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What the Initiative Does
Question 5 would provide automatic voter registration (AVR) for eligible citizens when receiving certain services from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). With AVR, eligible persons who apply to the DMV for the issuance, renewal, or address update of any type of Nevada’s driver’s license or identification card would be automatically registered to vote, unless they affirmatively decline in writing.
In Favor
Many eligible voters currently aren’t registered to vote. Adopting AVR would expand ballot access by decreasing the barrier to registration. It’ll also lead to cleaner, more secure voter rolls and help eliminate common voter registration errors, such as lack of current address.
Opposed
Individuals have a fundamental right to decide whether or not they want to register to vote. Taking this away by instituting AVR violates this important freedom. AVR will also increase the probability that people who aren’t eligible to vote end up becoming registered.
In-Depth
The Nevada Election Administration Committee, supported by D.C.-based voting issues and automatic voting registration organization iVote, is leading the campaign in support of Question 5 with the support of the ACLU of Nevada and Nevadans for Secure Elections. iVote says in support of automatic voter registration:
“According to the Pew Center on States, as of 2012, approximately 51 million eligible Americans are not registered to vote. This number represents a disproportionate share of low-income voters, people of color, and younger Americans. 30 percent of eligible African Americans, 40 percent of Hispanics, 45 percent of Asian Americans, and 41 percent of young adults (ages 18-24), were not registered to vote in 2008. An Oxford Journal study of Google search terms for registration after registration deadlines had passed, found that between three and four million eligible Americans would have voted, but were too late to register. In short, the opt-in nature of registration is leaving a lot of our democracy at home. By making registration automatic and universal, we have the potential to bring new – disproportionately minority and young – voting power to bear in our elections.”
The ACLU of Nevada calls AVR a commonsense policy to expand ballot access:
“AVR is a commonsense policy solution that will modernize Nevada’s voter registration processes at the DMV and expand access to the ballot for thousands of Nevadans. Streamlined systems and upgraded software will lead to cleaner, more secure voter rolls while eliminating common voter registration errors, such as changes of address.”
Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) plans to veto this initiative. In explaining his veto, Gov. Sandoval says:
“[Question 5] advances a worthy goal by encouraging more eligible Nevadans to register to vote. However, such a result must partner with sound policy. [Question 5] fails this test because it extinguishes a fundamental, individual choice—the right of eligible voters to decide for themselves whether they desire to apply to register to vote—forfeiting this basic decision to state government. … the core freedom of deciding whether one wishes to initiate voter registration belongs to the individual, not the government. Moreover, if [Question 5] became law, it would create an unnecessary risk that people who are not qualified voters may unintentionally apply to vote, subjecting them to possible criminal prosecution, fines, and other legal action.”
State Sen. Ben Kieckhefer (R-Reno) adds that many people who hold driver’s licenses and ID cards aren’t eligible to vote:
“There are 21,676 driver’s licenses and ID cards held by people in Nevada who are not legally eligible to vote. These people use a green card as their primary form of identification when presenting themselves to the Department of Motor Vehicles to receive their driver’s license or ID card. When one of these people go to renew their driver’s license or ID card, or change their address, this initiative will register that person to vote, despite the fact they are legally ineligible to vote.”
Nevadans for Secure Elections’ Chelsey Wininger disputes this concern, arguing that there are “multiple layers of verification” to ensure that only eligible persons are registered to vote.
Summary by Lorelei Yang
(Photo Credit: iStockphoto.com / outline205)
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