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An automatic voter registration policy by Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration that went into effect this week at the state Department of Motor Vehicles is getting mixed reviews among political party loyalists in Lycoming County.
Shapiro's administration says it's trying to make it easier for someone to register to vote when they are getting or renewing a driver's license in the state, and ensure more security and fair election days and outcomes.
With Pennsylvania being a battleground state, automatic voter registration may become a factor for Pennsylvania voters heading into the 2024 presidential election.
Pennsylvania's governor framed AVR as being important for the state's future.
"Now more than ever, we need an engaged citizenry to move our country and our commonwealth forward," Shapiro said.
How it works
Under the new format, prompts on the computer screens in driver's license centers will take users to a template to register to vote. That leaves it up to them to choose or not to register. Before, the user was first asked whether they wanted to register to vote.
The administration said it does not need legislation or regulation to make the change at driver's license centers.
Department of State spokesperson on background told the Sun-Gazette the authority to decide on this was given in 1993 when Motor Vehicle Law was passed to register voters when they would need to get or renew their driver's license.
The department spokeswoman said there are several steps and screens, such as what political party, before the registration is counted as a safeguard. For example, if the box is checked it does not automatically register the individual. The people must bring their identification and papers. They can opt out. People who are not eligible to vote will not be presented with the voter registration screen during any of the DMV processes.
Support and concerns
I'm "in agreement with the governor's ideas," stated McKenna Long, chair of the Lycoming County Democratic Committee.
"Not only does it streamline the process of registering, it strengthens democracy by ensuring election security with all of the documentation that must be provided at the DMV when obtaining your state driver's license or identification," Long said.
Donald C. Peters, chairman of the Lycoming County Republican Committee, said he isn't convinced that the policy doesn't skirt the intent of voter registration law.
"Without doing further research, I'm not convinced that it is in compliance," Peters said. "My stance is only a voter can decide to register. If they (voters) have not taken that affirmative step and it automatically registers someone who is getting or renewing their driver's license at the DMV, it is my belief it may be a violation of voter law without affirmed consent," he said.
To Peters, on the surface, it sounded as though it was an initiative to get more registered voters. He also questioned whether the policy did not require a legislative vote.
"That's what he is saying," he said.
Neither Long nor Peters were wrong in one aspect, which is to say automatic voter registration is expected to encourage more voters at the polls, according to Shapiro's prepared statement.
With 8.6 million registered voters in Pennsylvania, according to the Department of State, more than 10 million Pennsylvanians out of 13 million are at least 18 years old, based on U.S. Census figures. Eighteen years of age is the minimum legal age to vote.
"I am not a fan of the governor's mandate to automatically register residents to vote when they renew their driver's licenses or ID cards at PennDOT driver and photo license centers," said state Rep. Jamie Flick, R-South Williamsport.
Why? Three reasons, Flick asked and answered.
"One, this is yet another way of spoon-feeding people. It is already incredibly easy to register to vote. It's also incredibly easy to change voter registration. Because it is so easy to do, I don't believe it needs to be automated," Flick said.
"Two, while everyone has the right to vote, some people choose not to participate in the voting process -- and that should be their choice, not the governor's," he said.
"And three, I believe this should be voted on in a legislative process. Let people who have taken the initiative to register to vote have a say as to whether this process should be automated, via their elected representatives," he added
"Making it easier for uninterested, uninformed people to wield political power will inevitably lead to terrible political choices. It expands the pool of citizens to conscript into jury duty, and gives more votes to harvest," the state Libertarian Party told ABC News.
Added purpose
The argument that it will bring more people to the polls or to send in a vote by mail can be made.
In fact, Shapiro pointed toward researchers from the Public Policy Institute of California, the University of Southern California and the University of California-Berkeley who concluded in a 2021 study that automatic voter registration increased registration by several percentage points in states where it was in effect, and boosted the number of people actually voting by more than 1%.
States have been required to offer voter registration at driver's license centers since Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act in 1993.
Twenty-three other states and Washington, D.C. already have varying models of automatic voter registration, according to the National Conference of State Legislators.
Jessie Allen, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, told ABC News that voter registration could help enroll people who would otherwise forget to register to vote. People who would have instead scrambled to register close to Election Day will not have to worry about their status, she said.
"If you have to take an affirmative step to do it, then you might wind up being closed out of an opportunity that you're otherwise eligible for; you just haven't checked the box. This way, if you're automatically registered, because you have a driver's license, and you realize two weeks before an election, you want to vote; you'll be able to vote," Allen said.
It also could help with voting record accuracy, Allen told ABC.
"Voter records are already often linked with motor vehicles, because they want people to be accurate. So this way, for example, if somebody changes, addresses, or gets married and changes their name, and goes and gets a new driver's license, it would automatically update the voting record, and make it more accurate."
"Part of the reason why this is somewhat of a big story is that Pennsylvania was also one of the states that was being pretty heavily challenged in terms of voting in the 2020 presidential election," William Rosenberg, a political science professor at Drexel University, told ABC News.
Although Pennsylvania flipped blue in 2020 without AVR, Rosenberg says that AVR could still be seen as a disadvantage to Republicans, because "when it becomes easier and easier to vote, it's to the disadvantage of Republican candidate, because that means that there's likely to be more turnout, particularly among Democrats that might be somewhat disadvantaged by the prior restrictions that are in place."
Collaboration for efficiency
The automatic voter registration merges the efforts of two government departments.
The argument that it can improve efficiency was made by PennDOT.
"At PennDOT, we're proud of our role in the voter registration process," said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. "These latest enhancements are a great example of how, through constant collaboration with the Department of State, we work to make this process as efficient as possible for eligible Pennsylvania residents."
In other states, automatic voter registration has been shown to streamline the registration process for military families, who tend to move more often than other Americans, Shapiro stated.
The automatic voter registration process also is expected to reduce the paper application processing burdens on county election officials and make the registrations recorded more secure, he said.
Secure elections
Pennsylvania also is arguably a key "swing state" in elections.
"This is a key step to make our elections more secure," Shapiro said.
The announcement took place on National Voter Registration Day.
"I made a commitment when I was campaigning for this office that we would bring automatic voter registration to Pennsylvania and break down the barriers for legal eligible voters," Shapiro said.
"This is a key step to make our elections more secure," he said.
This report includes information compiled by The Associated Press.