Tech President reports the bill would allow for automatic voter registration when residents use government services. 16- and 17-year-olds would also be able to pre-register to vote. Residents who move within the state would also have their registrations automaticall transfter to the new location.
The legislation, the sponsors say, woud computerize the entire registration process, reducing typographical and clerical errors. Allowing voters to pre-register before their 18th birthday would also improve voter and registration rates, say the legislation's sponsors. In 2010, only 36 percent of New York’s citizen voting-age population cast ballots, making the state’s voter registration rate the third worst among states in the country, the press release notes. “As election season approaches, government bureaucracy continues to impede too many people from voting,” Senator Michael Gianaris said according to the statement. “Our proposal would remove these obstacles and maximize voter turnout while saving the state and its counties hundreds of thousands of dollars per election, thus preventing disenfranchisement and enabling better record keeping.”
Another part of the legislation would allow party enrollment or affiliation changes to take effect ten days after the date on which the changes were applied, instead of the first Tuesday following a general election.
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