Testimony for the Joint Committee on Election Laws

Testimony for the Joint Committee on Election Laws

January 19, 2016

Thank you to the Committee Chairmen and its members for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Janet Domenitz, and I am the Executive Director of MASSPIRG, a statewide, not-for-profit advocacy organization. We are in support of Election Day registration, SB 377/HB 553, and Automatic Voter registration, HB 3937.

It’s fitting that this hearing is taking place a day after our observation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday.  Many, if not most of us, are in the mind today of the fight Dr. King led for a more just democracy, a fight that continues decades later. Voting is a fundamental right and part of what makes our state, and our country great. Our democracy works best when everyone makes his or her voice heard on Election Day, but unfortunately not everyone is, thanks in part to our outdated voter registration system.

Our voter registration system is inefficient, costing taxpayers more than it should, and inaccurate, causing responsible voters to be turned away when they show up on Election Day. In the last presidential election, it’s estimated that over a million eligible voters tried to vote but were turned away because of registration problems. In the 2014 election, turnout of voters under the age of 30 was the lowest in 40 years.  There are myriad examples of how the current system unnecessarily and unjustly blocks citizens from voting.

We can do better.

If we enact Election Day registration, and automatic voter registration, we can bring more voices into our elections and ensure everyone has the opportunity to be heard while saving taxpayers money and preserving the integrity of our elections.

Over the years, in our advocacy for less restrictive registration practices, an argument comes up from policy makers: “What about fraud?” Of course we want total accuracy and integrity in our elections. But as one advocate says:

“The real threat to democracy is not voter fraud. It is, rather, those who would suppress the votes of millions of U.S. citizens in the name of “preventing” it.”  Loren McArthur, National Council of La Raza.

Another repudiation comes from a constitutional law scholar at Loyola Law School. Professor Justin Levitt’s recent comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation, covering local, state and national elections from 2000-2014, found 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast.

Whatever the concerns or excuses from the past, in 2016 it is time to reconsider the status quo, as California and Oregon already have, and many other states are considering, and enact Automatic Voter Registration. Eleven states already have some version of Election Day registration, so we are in catch up mode there. Both are important policies for our state and our country, and we thank the Committee for their consideration.