Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has signed legislation that makes Rhode Island the ninth state to allow automatic-voter-registration. The legislation championed by Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea would automatically place on the voter rolls anyone doing business with the Division of Motor Vehicles, and potentially other state offices, unless they decline. If the new system works as designed, it will update the central voter registration database, as voters change their home city and town addresses on the drivers licenses and registration, removing the potential “duplicates” from the voter rolls.
… John Marion, executive director of the citizens-advocacy group Common Cause Rhode Island also cheered the enactment of the legislation.
He hailed the signing as “a positive step toward both safeguarding the state’s elections and protecting voting rights. The system takes away unnecessary red tape in the registration process to help ensure that eligible citizens are registered. In the process, it updates address information for voters that are already registered so that no one can be turned away at the polls for having an incorrect address on file.″
Full Article: Raimondo signs Automatic Voter Registration into law.