State Sen. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) filed a bill Wednesday that he said will eliminate much of the controversy over voter registration.
The bill’s goal is to register eligible Floridians automatically via the Department of Motor Vehicles when they come of age.
He said automatic registration would save county election supervisors the need to verify registrations, run voting drives or oversee third-party registration groups.
“It can be an administrative headache having to figure out which third-party groups are out there registering voters,” Clemens said, “and whether they’re doing it properly.”
He said it’s hard to tell what the reaction is going to be with the new bill, but he thinks it will address some of the issues people face when voting in Florida.
“It’s new, so it’s hard for me to tell exactly what the reaction will be,” he said, “but I do think it gets us past some of the problems we’ve had with voter registration in Florida.”
He said he doesn’t believe this bill will cost the DMV much more money because they already ask to do registrations. The only change would be the registration becomes automatic unless a person opts out, a potential cost due to the increase in registrations.
“In today’s world there doesn’t have to be a whole separate system for people to go out and register to vote. It should just happen automatically.”
