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In a bid to improve voter turnout in California elections, Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday signed legislation to automatically register to vote anyone who has a driver’s license or state identification card.
The measure was pushed by Democrats, whose candidates and causes typically benefit from higher turnout elections.
Assembly Bill 1461, by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, will require the state to register adults to vote when they get or renew a driver’s license, unless they opt out. It will make California only the second state, after Oregon, to proactively register people to vote unless they decline.
The California legislation was a priority of Secretary of State Alex Padilla and followed the state’s record-low turnout in last year’s elections.
“In a free society, the right to vote is fundamental,” Padilla said in a statement after Brown announced signing the bill. “We do not have to opt-in to other rights, such as free speech or due process. The right to vote should be no different.”
The law will expand access to the polls as dozens of states are implementing significant new electoral restrictions, such as requiring photo identification to vote and cutting back on early voting. It drew praise from voting rights advocates and even Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who tweeted that other states should follow California’s lead.
“California just became a national leader on voting rights,” Myrna Pérez, deputy director of the Democracy Program at New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice, said in a statement. “In too many states, our outdated and error-prone registration system blocks millions from the polls. Automatic permanent voter registration can transform voting in America. Other states should look to California as a bold new model for reform.”
Democrats said the measure would increase the ranks of people – particularly the young, poor and nonwhite – engaged in the political process. Republicans mostly opposed the measure. They warned it risked allowing people eligible to get driver’s licenses, but who are noncitizens and ineligible to vote, to register and cast fraudulent ballots.
Democratic lawmakers countered that the bill included protections to prevent that from happening.
In November, only 42.2 percent of voters showed up, the lowest participation in a general election since World War II, according to a committee analysis of the measure. The turnout rate reflected just 31 percent of the state population eligible to vote, including an estimated 6.6 million Californians not registered.
“Our democracy depends on the true participation of the populace,” state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, said during a floor debate last month.
The measure sought to build upon the federal Motor Voter Law, which required voter registration forms to be available at motor vehicle agencies. More than 20 years later, though, experts said the paper-based law’s impact has been spotty, with few states able to detail how their agencies are helping people register to vote or update their registrations.
In Oregon, an automatic registration law took effect earlier this year, with full implementation due in January. Election officials automatically register people to vote when the state’s motor vehicle agency relays information that the people are eligible. They can apply to opt out.
“I just think we’re getting the cart before the horse,” state Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, said last month.
Under the law, automatic voter registration would not take place until the state’s long-awaited voter database, VoteCal, is up and running; there is a system in place to protect the transfer of noncitizen information; and money has been appropriated by the Legislature.
Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, introduced the measure along with Gonzalez and Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville.
Via: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article38684598.html
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article38684598.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article38684598.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article38684598.html#storylink=cpy
A record-low 42.2 percent of California voters participated in last November’s statewide general election, five months after a mere 25 percent of them voted in the June 2014 primary.
Lawmakers, political consultants and other experts will discuss the reasons for the growing election apathy and possible solutions at “Understanding California’s Voter Turnout Crisis: The Decline of Civic Participation,” an event hosted by the Leadership California Institute.So far this year, lawmakers have put forward proposals for automatic voter registration and other efforts to help reverse the voter drought.
The lineup of speakers includes state Sen. Ben Allen D-Santa Monica, and Assemblywoman Ling-Ling Chang R-Diamond Bar. Kim Alexander, president and founder of the California Voter Foundation, and Anthony York, editor and publisher of the Grizzly Bear Project, will also contribute to the forum.
The event is at 11 a.m. at the Citizen Hotel, 926 J Street.
FRACKING: Two years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown signed California’s most comprehensive legislation on the controversial oil and gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing. The measure mandates permits and groundwater monitoring for energy companies seeking to begin new fracking wells, as well as requiring the state to conduct an independent scientific assessment of well stimulation in California. The second set of those reports is set to be released today. The California Council on Science and Technology will present its findings, including how well stimulation could affect water, atmosphere, seismic activity, wildlife and vegetation, and human health, 3 p.m. at the California Environmental Protection Agency on I Street.
BREAST CANCER SEMINAR: Recent research suggests that women with dense breast tissue may not need the additional cancer screenings often recommended by physicians – well-intentioned caution that can lead to false positives and burdensome costs. Joy Melkinow, director for the Center of Health Policy and Research at UC Davis, will discuss the changing evidence on cancer screenings and prevention, and its effect on public health guidelines, noon at the UC Center Sacramento on K Street.
By: ALEXEI KOSEFF AND CATHERINE DOUGLAS MORAN
Via: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article26824324.html
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article26824324.html#storylink=cpy
A voter fills out her
ballot during early voting before the 2012 presidential election at the Gila
County Recorder's Office in Globe, Ariz., on Oct. 26. Voter registration data
published by Secretary of State Debra Bowen Tuesday show 17,660,486 Californians
are registered to vote and of that number more are registered as “no party
preference” compared to the last gubernatorial primary.; Credit: Joshua
Lott/Reuters/Landov
Voter registration data
published by Secretary of State Debra Bowen Tuesday show 17,660,486
Californians are registered to vote and of that number more are registered as
“no party preference” compared to the last gubernatorial primary.
No party preference voters
comprised 21.06 percent of the state’s total registered voters, a slight
increase from 20.1 percent in April 2010.
Republican voter
registration in California also had a notable change, from 30.8 percent of the
total in 2010 to 28.5 percent.
The voter data is included
in a 60-day report of registration, which reflects data across California’s 58
counties gathered 60 days before the June 3 statewide primary election.
Alpine, the California
county with the smallest amount of eligible voters—881—had the highest voter
registration, with 86.7 percent of the eligible voter population.
Tulare County had the
lowest voter registration, with almost 53 percent of its 255, 378 eligible
voters registered.
Of the eligible voters in
Los Angeles County, the largest county in the state, 80.1 percent of them were
registered to vote, according to the data.
“The clock is ticking and
the May 19 voter registration deadline will be here before you know it,” said
Secretary Bowen, the state’s chief elections officer, in a statement. “If you
aren’t one of the 17.7 million Californians already registered to vote, take
five minutes at the newly designed RegisterToVote.ca.gov which is now offered
in 10 languages.”
via: http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/04/22/43693/california-voter-registration-no-party-preference/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+893KpccSouthernCaliforniaNews-Politics%2FpublicAffairs+%28KPCC%3A+Politics+News%29
