Pennsylvania, a battleground state that would play an outsize function within the 2024 presidential election, will start to robotically register new voters as a part of its driver’s license and state ID approval course of, officers stated on Tuesday.
The program, which was introduced by Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, is much like these provided in 23 different states and the District of Columbia, in accordance with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Voters should meet sure eligibility necessities, which embody being a U.S. citizen and a Pennsylvania resident for not less than 30 days earlier than an election. They additionally should be not less than 18 years previous on the date of the subsequent election.
“Automatic voter registration is a common-sense step to ensure election security and save Pennsylvanians time and tax dollars,” Mr. Shapiro stated in an announcement. “Residents of our Commonwealth already provide proof of identity, residency, age and citizenship at the D.M.V. — all the information required to register to vote — so it makes good sense to streamline that process with voter registration.”
In the 2020 election and the midterm races final yr, Pennsylvania was a hotbed of falsehoods about voter fraud, promoted by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies. Republicans within the state have mounted a sequence of unsuccessful authorized challenges over voters’ eligibility and absentee ballots that didn’t have dates written on their return envelopes, which a state legislation requires.
While voting rights teams heralded Pennsylvania’s steps to broaden entry to the polls, Mr. Trump’s loyalists attacked them and sought to sow additional mistrust about voting integrity within the state.
“I can promise you, there will be no citizenship verification,” Stephen Miller, a high White House adviser to Mr. Trump, wrote on X, the social media platform previously often known as Twitter.
The transfer to computerized voter registration, which begins Tuesday, comes as each Republicans and Democrats control the state because the 2024 race heats up.
The state the place President Biden was born, Pennsylvania may decide not solely whether or not he’s elected to a second time period, but additionally whether or not Democrats keep management of the intently divided Senate. Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat in his third time period, is going through a key re-election check.
