Vermont Senate Passes Major Progressive Voting Reform:register to vote at the polls
The Vermont Senate approved a key voting rights reform on Wednesday, a move that could pave the way for increased participation rates in the Green Mountain State.
The Senate passed S.29, which would allow Vermont voters to register to vote at the polls on Election Day. Currently, Vermonters must be registered a week beforehand. If someone hasn’t registered by 5pm on the Wednesday before Election Day, she is not permitted to vote that year.
Research has consistently shown that Election Day Registration gives a major boost to voter turnout numbers, with studies estimating the benefit at anywhere from seven to fourteen percentage points. In the 2014 election, for example, seven of the nine states with the highest turnout rates offered Election Day Registration. (The only two that didn’t, Alaska and Oregon, had marijuana legalization initiatives on the ballot.) It has been enacted in a dozen states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming — as well was Washington DC.
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One lawmaker, Sen. Dustin Degree (R), tried to amend S.29 to require those registering on Election Day to show photo identification. However, fellow GOPer Sen. Diane Snelling (R) explained why she opposed the idea: “It’s hard not to think about southern states that are trying to prevent people from voting. I’m not saying this is that but it does remind me of it.” The amendment was easily rejected by the Senate.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/04/02/3642215/vermont-senate-election-day-registration/