New York to Improve Voter Registration at DMVs

Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a new system to simplify and modernize voter registration.

Currently, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers register to vote each year at a Department of Motor Vehicles office where they fill out a paper form, which the DMV then mails to each county's Board of Elections.

This multi-step process is outdated and error-prone, as a 2004 New York City study found typos in 20% of records.

However, under the new system, DMV offices will collect voter registration applications electronically and automatically pass that information directly to the Board of Elections. Moreover, eligible voters with a driver's license will be able to register to vote or update their registration online without having to print and mail any forms.

This paperless registration system will likely improve New York's low registration rate--64% of eligible voters are registered, making New York 48th in the nation for voter registration.

Only 17.6% New York's voter registrations come from DMVs, but nationally this number is more than 30%. In Washington, the number of voter registration transactions at DMVs doubled after automation and in South Dakota it grew almost eightfold.

Twelve other states have fully automated registration at DMVs, and nine more have partial automation. Eleven states have online registration. Streamlining registration at DMVs increases accuracy, minimizes the potential for fraud and saves money, all while increasing registrations. Arizona's Maricopa County recouped its startup costs for an automated registration system in a single election, saving over $450,000.

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Combating Prison-Based Gerrymandering

Although some states have already finished the redistricting process, many are still hard at work.

Earlier this year, the Prison Policy Initiative released a new set of factsheets on prison-based gerrymandering. The factsheets highlight how the practice is disenfranchising minority voters nationwide, particularly African-Americans, Latinos, and American Indians.

Prison-based gerrymandering starts with where the Census counts prison populations. While some states require prisoners to be counted at their last know address, others are counted at their prison address, bolstering population in a district where they are (usually) not eligible to vote. Thus, the majority of a district's "residents" can be locked away, giving extra weight to the votes of those living there by choice, while simultaneously reducing the population and influence of prisoners' home districts.

Luckily, some states are beginning to tackle this problem. After voting to end the practice, the New York state legislature has stepped up to enforce the decision. The term "prison-based gerrymandering" was added to the state's 2011 redistricting glossary, one of the state Senate's stated goals is to end prison-based gerrymandering, and special consideration was given to how prisoners would be counted at their "homes of record."

Prison-based gerrymandering is also being addressed on a smaller scale. Earlier this year LaSalle Parish in Louisiana redistricted their local government and School Board, but only after deducting the number of prisoners in the parish's two prisons. LaSalle is one of over 100 local governments across the country that proactively address the issue of prison-based gerrymandering.

Is prison-based gerrymandering a problem in your community?

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