Calif. considering automatic voter registration
By Patrick McGreevey, Los Angeles Times
Every eligible Californian with a driver’s license would be automatically registered to vote under a proposal Thursday by Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who estimated it would add millions of people to the voter rolls.
Padilla and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, are modeling their legislation on a “motor voter” law signed last week by the governor of Oregon in an attempt to boost voter turnout.
The California proposal is partly in response to the 42 percent record low turnout in California’s November election, as well as this month’s Los Angeles election, which saw about 10 percent of eligible voters go to the polls.