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County May Test Election Day Registration

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Tuesday September 23, 2003

The first small step towards election-day voter registration in California now rests on the desk of Gov. Gray Davis. 

The California Legislature passed a bill two weeks ago, sponsored by Assemblymember Wilma Chan (D-Oakland) and coauthored by State Senator Don Perata (D-Oakland/Berkeley), that would establish a two-year election-day registration pilot project in Alameda County. 

Under the pilot project, scheduled to run from January, 2004 through the end of 2005, Alameda County voters will be able to register and immediately vote on election day as well as during the two-week “blackout” period preceding an election. 

Under present California law, voters cannot cast a ballot in an election if they have not registered at least two weeks prior to that election. 

The Chan registration pilot project affects only municipal and school district elections (such as in Emeryville, Hayward, Pleasanton, Livermore, and Union City), which do not take place on the same day as state or federal elections. 

Regular municipal elections in Berkeley and Oakland, which are normally consolidated with state and federal elections, aren’t included in the pilot project, but any special elections in Berkeley and Oakland in the next two years will be affected which don’t take place on the same day as state or federal elections. 

Such special elections could include recalls of city or school officials, or votes to fill vacancies. 

According to Rachel Richman, Chan’s chief of staff, concerns about possible voter fraud and logistical problems have thwarted efforts to establish a statewide same-day voter registration and voting in California. “(The pilot project) is a way for us to test it out in a local election, see how it works, see what sort of fine-tuning needs to happen.” 

Same-day registration and voting “is especially important.” said Richman, “because oftentimes, people don’t begin paying attention to an election until a week or 10 days before. We hope that what this will do is increase voter participation.” 

A U.S. Census Bureau study of the November 2000 Presidential elections found that of the six states which currently allow same-day voter registration and voting—Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming—only Idaho had a voting percentage less than the national average of 60 percent. 

Three same-day voter registration and voting states—Wisconsin, Maine, and Minnesota—ranked in the top five states in the country in voter participation. 

California had a 58 percent voter participation percentage in the November 2000 Presidential election, just below the national average. 

Richman said that pending the results of the two-year study, a bill to establish statewide same-day voter registration and voting will be introduced in 2006.