NEW YORK—State officials and the Brennan Center for Justice introduced an initiative Thursday meant to boost voter participation in elections.
According to a Brennan Center release, “The single biggest barrier to voting is our antiquated registration system.” The initiative has several different measure, including automatically registering citizens to vote, with their consent; making the registration process digital; and preregistering 16- and 17-year-olds before their 18th birthday.
In 2010, only 36 percent of citizens that could of voted actually voted, making the state registration rate the third worst in the nation, according to the release.
“As election season approaches, government bureaucracy continues to impede too many people from voting,” state Sen. Michael Gianaris said in the release. “Our proposal would remove these obstacles and maximize voter turnout while saving the state and its counties hundreds of thousands of dollars per election, thus preventing disenfranchisement and enabling better record keeping.”
The coalition reminded prospective voters that there are four election days this year. April 24 was the presidential primary; June 26 is the congressional primary; Sept. 13 is the legislative primary; and Nov. 6 is the general election.
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