Online voter registration approved by General Assembly
By News Staff
The General Assembly has given final approval to a law allowing Rhode Islanders to register to vote or update their voter information online.
The bill is now headed to Governor Gina Raimondo’s desk.
The law lets Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea to set up a web portal where voters can go online to register or update their information.
Under the bill, officials would then cross-reference their information with other databases to verify what the applicants submitted.
“It’s time to bring voter registration into the 21st century. Making voter registration available online means it’s conveniently accessible to Rhode Islanders 24 hours a day, so no matter how busy they may be or what kind of hours they work, they have the opportunity to be a registered voter. Electronic registration will encourage more Rhode Islanders, especially younger people, to register to vote by eliminating the necessity of having to get to City Hall during business hours, and will help get more people involved in the democratic process,” said Representative Regunberg (D-Dist. 4, Providence).
Sponsors say electronic registration can also help eliminate errors and confusion, while saving the state money.
In January 2014, the Presidential Commission on Election Administration recommended that all states implement online voter registration, in part because it “increases the accuracy and currency of the voter rolls, thereby reducing delays and congestion at the polling place.” Thirty-one states plus Washington, D.C. currently offer online registration, and another three states have passed legislation to create online voter registration systems.
Arizona was the first state to institute online voting in 2002, and now 70% of its registration occurs online. According to one study, it costs Arizona 83 cents to process each manual registration form, but only 3 cents for each online registration.
© WLNE-TV 2016
