Know Your Ballot Carson City: Question 5, Automatic Voter Registration
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Tue, 09/25/2018 - 12:28pm
An initiative to allow eligible citizens to automatically register to vote while at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles takes form in this election year’s Question 5. The indirect initiative was approved along partisan lines, but Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed the initiative, choosing instead for the issue to go to a public vote.
Currently, in Nevada there is an “opt-in system” of voter registration, meaning eligible voters must choose to become registered voters by signing up.
The automatic voter registration initiative would change the system from an opt-in to an opt-out system. Meaning, voters would then need to unregister themselves from being a registered voter.
Currently, 12 states and Washington D.C. have enacted bills to set up automatic voter registration systems in their states.
If adopted, Question 5 would change Section 2 of Chapter 293 of the Nevada Revised Statues to include the following provisions:
The Secretary of State, the Department of Motor Vehicles and each county clerk shall cooperatively establish a system by which voter registration information that is collected pursuant to section 4 of this act by the Department from a person who submits an application for the issuance or renewal of or change of address for any type of driver’s license or identification card issued by the Department must be transmitted electronically to the Secretary of State and the county clerks for the purpose of registering the person to vote or updating the voter registration information of the person for the purpose of correcting the statewide voter registration list pursuant to NRS 293.530.
Basically, if a person is issued a driver’s license in the state of Nevada, or requests a change of address, they would then be automatically registered to vote with that information.
iVote, a voter advocacy group out of Washington D.C. in support of the initiative, argues:
“According to the Pew Center on States, as of 2012, approximately 51 million eligible Americans are not registered to vote. This number represents a disproportionate share of low-income voters, people of color, and younger Americans. 30 percent of eligible African Americans, 40 percent of Hispanics, 45 percent of Asian Americans, and 41 percent of young adults (ages 18-24), were not registered to vote in 2008.
An Oxford Journal study of Google search terms for registration after registration deadlines had passed, found that between three and four million eligible Americans would have voted, but were too late to register.”
Gov. Sandoval explains his opposition:
IP1 advances a worthy goal by encouraging more eligible Nevadans to register to vote. However, such a result must partner with sound policy. IP1 fails this test because it extinguishes a fundamental, individual choice — the right of eligible voters to decide for themselves whether they desire to apply to register to vote — forfeiting this basic decision to state government. … the core freedom of deciding whether one wishes to initiate voter registration belongs to the individual, not the government.
Moreover, if IP1 became law, it would create an unnecessary risk that people who are not qualified voters may unintentionally apply to vote, subjecting them to possible criminal prosecution, fines, and other legal action.
For more information on Question 5, click here.
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