Good news this afternoon from Rhode Island, where Gov. Gina Raimondo has signed a bill providing automatic voter registration to qualified citizens doing business with state agencies.

The state becomes the ninth nationwide to adopt automatic registration, a voter reform which has boosted registration and voter turnout elsewhere. Common Cause Rhode Island was among the organizations that lobbied the state legislature in support of the legislation.

“Governor Raimondo took an important step today to keep our elections modern, safe and secure in Rhode Island,” said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island. “Having automatic voter registration will increase access to the ballot for eligible Rhode Islanders so that they can have their voice heard in the electoral process.”

“Having clean voter lists is critical to preserving the integrity of our elections, which is why I made enacting Automatic Voter Registration a priority,” Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea said in a press release. “Automatic Voter Registration will help reduce the bloat in our voter rolls resulting from unintentional, duplicate voter registrations and help increase voter participation.”

Raimondo’s action came as President Trump’s advisory panel on “election integrity” met for the first time in Washington. The White House has stocked the commission, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, with prominent advocates of laws and regulations designed to make voting more difficult.

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