Amid voter-restriction moves elsewhere, automatic voter registration here worth support

This comes after the largely discredited protests by former President Donald Trump, who to this day, claims, without evidence, that the election was stolen from him. Voter registration and mail-in ballots are two of Trump’s and the GOP’s most vaporous bogeymen.

The pending Hawaiʻi legislation for Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) is simple and makes a lot of sense.

It would include voter registration automatically in the documents you sign when you first apply for a Hawaiʻi driver’s license. Applicants would have to provide evidence that they are who they say they are, just as they do now, but would also have to say they are eligible to vote and would then be automatically registered to vote if 18 or older. Applicants would have to actively say they didn’t want to register to vote in order to opt out.

Scott Nago, state chief elections officer, said in testimony last week: “This bill also ensures the accuracy of the voter registration rolls by electronically transmitting voter registration data between the driver licensing and identification card database and the statewide voter registration system.”

Remember those long lines on election day last year? This automatic registration option would fix much of the problem, with everyone automatically becoming a voter, so no need for last-minute registration.

Senate Bill 159 received wide support from good government groups, local labor unions and other government action groups.

“We must make sure that we provide access to democracy for groups who struggle to find time to engage with the process. We lose out as a society when simple technical barriers keep people from participating,” testified Will Caron, president of the Young Progressives Demanding Action group.