Kansas Takes on Pre-Registration for Youth

Today young state Rep. Milack Talia is conducting a hearing about his bill HB 2256 in the Kansas State Legislature about working with the state DMV to pre-register young people when they come into get their drivers permit or drivers license.

HB 2256 was introduced with the purpose of increasing voter participation in our democracy which is an honorable attempt, but I fear the conservative elected officials don't want that at all. I can see elected officials trying to make this go away so they don't look bad to constituents for being against kids being instilled with things like civic pride. And if that happens, you should rest assured we'll cover it here first, on Future Majority!

According to the prepared testimony from Rep. Talia Kansas ranks 37th in the country with registration for those eligible to vote. And of those 18-24 only 49.4% are registered vs. 58.5% nationally. Yet, when those young people vote they do so to the tun of an 85% turnout.

Adam Fogel from the Right to Vote Director of FairVote, is also testifying at the hearing today. The following is an excerpt from his prepared testimony:

"Youth voter pre-registration is the first step in what should be the ultimate goal of developing a voter registration system that reduces the burden placed on the individual and ensures security in the process. This policy would allow young people to register to vote when applying for a driver’s license or farm equipment permit, the same way voters over 18 can do now because of the National Voter Registration Act (“motor voter”). It also gives high schools the ability to conduct systematic, effective voter registration drives in the educational atmosphere of a classroom. Recent research by Michael McDonald of George Mason University shows that the most successful implementation of youth voter pre-registration is accompanied by civic education programming.

This policy will also resolve the problem of the last-minute rush of voter registration applications local boards of election receive before the voter registration deadline every election cycle. Partisan and nonpartisan voter registration groups that register thousands of new voters have been known to hold onto the forms until days before the deadline, making it difficult for the local boards to process all of the forms before the election. Enacting youth voter pre-registration will make voter registration a year-round activity, where local boards of election will no longer be inundated with last-minute rushes and be forced to hire temporary, often inexperienced staff who could be prone to unintentional clerical mistakes."

As someone who believes very passionately in our systems of government, I wish we could see more people participating in the process. It is what makes our country great, and it is the foundation of all democracies. Instilling that civic pride in our youth as early as possible is nothing but a good thing.