Mass. eyes growing list of same-day registration states

BOSTON -- Advocates on Wednesday renewed a push to allow Massachusetts residents to register to vote and cast a ballot on the same day during an early voting period or on Election Day.

A coalition of organizations like the ACLU, Common Cause, League of Women Voters and more gathered for a lobby day to push for legislation (H 636, H 685 and S 396) that would allow Massachusetts residents who are otherwise eligible to vote to go to their local polling place on Election Day or during early voting, complete a registration form, and vote immediately afterward.

Current law requires voters to be registered at least 20 days before an election in which they plan to vote.

"We need it to protect the fundamental right of democracy for everyone to have their vote counted," Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, said Wednesday.

The Election Modernization Coalition estimates that 100,000 eligible Massachusetts voters are disenfranchised each election cycle because of the requirement to register to vote at least 20 days prior to an election. The coalition said the election reform would reduce the human error associated with paper forms, cut down on provisional ballots and make elections more secure.

A resident looking to register and vote on Election Day would have to provide proof of residency and make a written oath attesting to their citizenship before they could register, and election officials at each polling place would have access to the state's central registry of certified voters, the coalition said.

"It is very inexpensive. We're talking about maybe an extra poll worker or two at the polls on Election Day in some places but not in all, but then the provisional ballots drop out so that's a lot of work after the election that's decreased," Wilmot said. "The states that have it report very low expenses."

As of January, 17 states plus the District of Columbia offered same-day registration with 16 of those states allowing same-day registration on Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In North Carolina, same-day registration is only available during a portion of that state's early voting period.

Massachusetts and Rhode Island are the only New England states that do not offer some form of same-day voting registration, but in Rhode Island a voter who missed the voter registration deadline may vote at the office of the Board of Canvassers on Election Day for president and vice president only, according to NCSL.

In total, 21 states have either implemented or authorized a form of same-day registration, Wilmot said.

"'We are 22' is rather a depressing chant for a state like Massachusetts that is the cradle of democracy," she said.

The Senate in 2014 approved a same-day registration measure but it did not survive talks with the House over an election bill that was signed into law. The Election Laws Committee included several same-day registration bills in an order for further study last session, effectively killing them.

Same-day registration became a topic of debate last year in the race for secretary of state when the incumbent, William Galvin, proposed legislation to allow same-day registration and his challenger suggested the secretary was late "showing up at the party." Josh Zakim, the Boston city councilor challenging Galvin in the Democratic primary, said he had supported same-day voter registration "for quite some time."

"Allowing voters to register on Election Day is the next step in our successful effort to expand access to the ballot," Galvin said last year. "Over the past few years, my office has worked to bring online voter registration, pre-registration and early voting to Massachusetts. This is yet another way to make it easier to cast a ballot for any eligible citizen who wants to vote."

Automatic voter registration, under which eligible voters will be automatically registered when they interact with the Registry of Motor Vehicles and MassHealth, unless they opt out, begins in Massachusetts in January 2020 ahead of the March 3 presidential primary. Census Day comes a month later on April 1, 2020, and the secretary's office said residents will begin receiving forms in the mail in mid-March 2020.