California
On Saturday, October 10, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law The Motor Voter Act, a bill that automatically registers to vote any person on the day he receives or renews his driver’s license.
The Motor Voter Act, sponsored by Secretary of State Alex Padilla, will hopefully reverse the record-low voter turnout from last November, which was a shocking forty-two percent.
Before this act, only fifty-two percent of eligible voters ages 18 to 24 were registered to vote, an embarrassing statistic in a country where people died for the right to vote only fifty years ago.
California is still behind Oregon, who now registers every person to vote on his/her eighteenth birthday.
Padilla says about his measure, “Citizens should not be required to opt into their fundamental right to vote. We do not have to opt into other rights such as free speech or due process.”
Alabama
Alabama, on the other hand, is slipping back into the 1950s, a time when many were often barred from the polls by unjust, discriminatory laws.
Alabama has closed 31 driver’s license offices, almost all in areas with large minority and poor populations.
In Alabama, one is required to provide a federal- or state-issued ID when voting, and a driver’s license is the most common form used by voters.
Residents will experience difficulty obtaining and renewing driver’s licenses, meaning these people will be unable to provide a valid ID when voting.
Presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said about the law, “50 years after Rosa Parks sat and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched and John Lewis bled, it is hard to believe we are back having this same debate about whether or not every American gets a chance to vote and exercise his rights.”