California OKs Same-Day Voter Registration, as Long as It’s Not Today

Posted on Sep 25, 2012

Photo by Steve Rhodes (CC-BY-ND)

With the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown secured, California became the 11th state to allow voters to register on Election Day. Just not this Election Day. Or the next one, if officials can’t launch a statewide database that is part of the deal and not expected to be ready until 2015.

Oh well, it’s the thought that counts.

Los Angeles Times:

The measure becomes law Jan. 1, 2013,  but election-day voter registration will not begin until after the California secretary of state begins operating Vote-Cal, a much delayed statewide voter database, which will allow real-time verification of whether applicants are registered in other counties. 

VoteCal is not expected to be up and running until 2015, said Nicole Winger, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state.

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A statement on the governor’s website quotes Brown as saying, “Voting—the sacred right of every citizen—should be simple and convenient. ... While other states try to restrict voters with new laws that burden the process, California allows voters to register online—and even on Election Day.”

—Posted by Peter Z. Scheer. Follow him on Twitter: @peesch.

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