The Barrier
Every Texan wants shorter lines and more time their day. But Texas only sometimes offers a choice to “opt-in” to register to vote when interacting with state agencies like DPS. Without knowing that voter registration is actually being offered, most eligible voters miss out on this opportunity.
If spending hours at DPS, filling out a mountain of paperwork, and waiting for your number to be called is how Texas renews driver’s licenses, why doesn’t Texas just register you to vote at the same time?
Even when the state was supposed to offer at minimum a chance to opt-in, it failed. In 2016, a lawsuit was brought against Texas for not being in compliance with the federal National Voter Registration Act when it failed to register eligible voters when updating their driver’s license information or change of address.
Texas has continuously failed its citizens. For years, Texans believed they had updated their voter registration when renewing their driver’s license, when making changes to their address online, or when opting-in to registration at a state agency. However, when these eligible voters arrived at the polls they learned that they were, in fact, not registered to vote due to Texas’s negligence to follow federal law.
Texas disenfranchised many eligible Texan voters by refusing to integrate this practice even after being advised of their violation and even admitting that the state was capable of following the law.
The Solution
Streamline and automate registration at state agencies.
By changing the opt-in policy to make voter registration automatic when engaging in any routine governmental interaction, Texas can increase the accuracy of our voter rolls and voter data tenfold. Automatic Voter Registration changes a state’s voter registration process so that eligible citizens are automatically registered to vote when they interact with state agencies such as the DMV, DPS, or Medicaid.
Automation also makes registration “portable” so that, when registered voters move within the state or fill out a change-of-address form, their voter registration is updated automatically and they don’t have to re-register.
It still offers voters the opportunity to “opt-out,” and adds the benefit of eliminating hurdles and confusion experienced by opt-in systems. Automatic Voter Registration is a pro-voter policy succeeding in 16 states. Twenty-four additional states, including Texas, introduced bills in 2019 that would put automatic registration in place.
Automation ensures that eligible citizens can conveniently register to vote and keep their registration accurate and up-to-date. It also makes registration more accessible for people like a parent working two jobs, a farmer who lives far away from their county registrar’s office, a senior citizen, or a military family who moves frequently or faces deployment overseas.