Automatic Voter Registration

In an era when the Republican Party is openly opposed to democracy, it is good to see Democrats embrace common sense expansions of democracy that will have the likely benefit of also helping them, but also through laws that are not designed as partisan but are just the right thing to do. Such as Pennsylvania’s automatic voter registration move.

Eligible voters getting a new driver’s license or ID card in Pennsylvania will now be automatically registered to vote, Commonwealth officials said.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, announced the change Tuesday, touting it as good for democracy.

“Automatic voter registration is a commonsense step to ensure election security and save Pennsylvanians time and tax dollars,” Shapiro said in a statement. “Residents of our Commonwealth already provide proof of identity, residency, age, and citizenship at the DMV — all the information required to register to vote — so it makes good sense to streamline that process with voter registration,” he added.

Good sense indeed. Also morally correct. And good politics. In short, it checks all the boxes Democratic Party governance should check.