Bucking the overwhelming tide of state voter suppression legislation over the last couple of years, California has done something positive! The state legislature passed and the governor just signed SB 35, a new law that clarifies the state’s obligation to enforce federal voter registration law.
Specifically, the new law spells out the secretary of state’s obligation to enforce the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires motor vehicle, public assistance, and disability agencies to offer voter registration. It also requires the new California Health Benefit Exchange (established to implement health care reform) to offer online voter registration to its clients.
The number of unregistered voters in California amply demonstrates the need for stronger NVRA public agency registry enforcement in the state (and indeed, across the country). In 2010, there were over 22 million adult citizens, of whom less than 14 million were registered to vote. The national rate of voter registration, which is scandalously low, is a full 4 percent better than the California numbers. Equally importantly, about 31 percent of low-income adult citizens in California not registered to vote as of 2010.
The public agency registration requirement under Section 7 of the NVRA was designed to remedy this problem, but most states—including California—have fallen down on the job of enforcing it over the years. Senator Alex Padilla’s bill and Governor Jerry Brown’s signature represent a public recognition that these sorry registration numbers must be reversed, and put some teeth in the state’s commitment to do so. The law’s explicit designation of responsible parties in the agencies and its imposition of reporting requirements will go a long way toward ushering in a new era of effective and aggressive voter registration efforts by the state.
Project Vote was in frequent communication with the Sen. Padilla, and suggested certain minor changes to the bill along with way. We submitted testimony when it was formally introduced.
We applaud the leaders in California who, against this year’s political trends, have stepped up to underscore the importance of the right to vote—and the crucial role of state government in protecting it.