The Delaware Senate has just approved SB 5, on a vote of 14-7. The bill will create an automatic voter registration system at the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, and potentially other state agencies.

Declaración de Claire Snyder-Hall, directora de Common Cause Delaware

America’s government ‘by the people’ is stronger when more people participate. But, in Delaware, not everyone does — even after last year’s community-based voter registration drives.

Estimaciones del censo suggest that at least 10,000 Delawareans of voting age are still not registered to vote. The data also indicates that 12.6% of Delawareans have moved within the past year, and may not have updated their voter registration.

But a simple change in Delaware’s voter registration process could ensure that all eligible Delawareans are registered to vote at their current address – and that they can participate in upcoming elections without bureaucratic barriers. For a one-time cost of less than $22,000, Delaware can fully implement “Automatic Voter Registration” and ensure that any updated name or address received from a registered voter during a DMV license or identification card transaction will automatically be forwarded to the Department of Elections.

Other states that have implemented “AVR” have touted its benefits. For example, Georgia’s AVR system is credited with registering casi dos tercios of the Peach State’s voters. In Oregon, AVR is considered a “phenomenal success” that increased registration among minorities, and less urban and less wealthy voters. In Connecticut, AVR is “tremendamente exitoso” and credited with adding 400,000 new voters.

AVR has been adopted and implemented in 19 states, and is part of the “For the People Act” now being debated in the US Senate. If implemented nationwideEl AVR podría registrar hasta 50 millones de nuevos votantes elegibles, al tiempo que haría más precisos los registros de votantes, ahorrando dinero y reduciendo la confusión y otros problemas en las urnas.

But Delaware doesn’t have to wait for Congress to pass the “For the People Act” to implement AVR here — and today, our state Senate took a significant step forward by passing Senate Bill 5. We urge Delaware’s House of Representatives to do the same.