Rock the Vote on Tumblr

Governor Jerry Brown Signs Auto Registration Bill Into Law Today

October 10, 2015

Rock the Vote applauds California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for signing a bill into law today that will automatically register eligible citizens to vote when they interact with the DMV. According to the Brennan Center, there are 6.6 million eligible but unregistered citizens in California, and this measure could dramatically boost California’s registration rate, which was ranked 38th in the country in 2012.

“Our democracy is strongest when all eligible voters are empowered to participate. Implementing automatic voter registration is an effective ways to boost participation, especially when it comes to young people across California,” ”said Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane. “We thank Governor Brown for his leadership and bold action to increase voter participation in the state of California, and we hope other states will follow his lead in making registration and voting easier for young people.” 

The results from a statewide survey, released by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) in June of this year, found that 69% of California adults favor registering all eligible citizens to vote when they go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

California is the third state in the country to pass automatic registration and the second state to enact it. This law simplifies the registration process by putting the onus on the government to register eligible voters. California is the largest state to adopt automatic voter registration.

In March of this year, Oregon became the first state to enact automatic voter registration, and the New Jersey’s legislature passed a bill this past June that Gov. Chris Christie has yet to sign.

### 
About Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is the largest non-profit and non-partisan organization in the United States building the political power of young people. Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity. Now, for almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.

Rock the Vote has run the largest voter registration drives for young people on record during the past six Presidential elections. In 2008 and 2012, our on-the-ground efforts, online organizing, and cutting-edge tools and technologies made us the largest non-partisan voter engagement campaign in the nation. All of these efforts have resulted in Rock the Vote processing nearly seven million voter registrations, bringing millions more to the polls, and becoming a trusted resource for young people, government agencies, and technological innovators passionate about political discourse and engagement. See more information here. 

As of yesterday, ‪‎Vermont became the 15th state, along with the District of Columbia, to offer same-day voter registration – a move that will make it easier for young people to exercise their rights at the ballot box.

There are significant benefits of same day voter registration. It leads to higher turnout, on average by 10 percentage points compared to states without same day registration, partially because it eliminates deadlines that occur before most voters are actually tuned into what’s happening in an election.

To learn more about the benefits of same day registration, check out this great explainer from our friends at Demos: http://www.demos.org/publication/what-same-day-registration-where-it-available

Think your vote doesn’t matter? Think again.

Take 5 minutes to register to vote or update your voter registration

Here at Rock the Vote, we love to see young people register to vote. It’s kinda what we do. We hear a lot of stories about students throwing concerts, parties, and registration drives to register their friends to vote. But this story… this one has goat to take the cake (pun definitely intended!).

So I got the tip early last week that some killer awesome high school students in North Carolina were using a goat to register their friends to vote. You read that correctly. A goat. Four legs, floppy ears, goofy eyes. I saw the pictures, but I still couldn’t believe it. So I decided to do a little digging.

Turns out the goat, who goes by the name of Leroy, belongs to a Mr. Randall Williams, a teacher at Carolina Friends School in North Carolina. Mr. Williams teaches a Quaker Advocacy Class and had taken his students on a hands-on trip to Washington, DC at the end of March to meet with their state’s legislators.

Long story short, this advocacy weekend was the major event of the semester. Once the class returned from the trip, they had a few extra weeks to burn so some of Mr. Williams’ students came up with an idea. 

Cara DiLiberti and Madison Bennett, both seniors, proposed the idea of hosting a voter registration event (because what’s the point of an advocacy class if you can’t vote?!). But instead of just setting up a table at lunch, they chose a different strategy to get their classmates’ attention.

Here’s where the story gets fun. As it turns out, Mr. Williams happens to own a few goats. And when his students called on him to “Get Out the Goat,” he couldn’t resist. He chose Leroy, his most social goat, to join in the registration fun, and the class set to work. By the end of the day, Mr. Williams’ class registered a whopping 40 students (almost 100% of the senior class and nearly half of the eligible junior class).

When it comes to supporting the student population, Carolina Friends School doesn’t just register the goat, they rock the goat! North Carolina’s primary election is next month, and the school is not only letting students out of class to go vote—they’re busing students to the polls!

So cool.

Carolina Friends School sets a high bar for innovative voter registration events. Think you can top it? We challenge you. Just let us know so we can share!