online registration

The voter registration press releases are streaming into my mailbox nonstop today.

From Rock the Vote:

As many states' voter registration deadlines come to a close tonight, Rock the Vote is celebrating Morgan Reed-Parker, a 17 year old from North Carolina, our 2 millionth registration of the 2008 election cycle. Rock the Vote's 2008 registration campaign, the largest youth registration drive in history, has engaged young people from all 50 states and D.C. in this election through online, mobile, and grassroots outreach

Technically, Morgan is not the 2 millionth person to register to vote, but the 2 millionth person to download/start the voter registration process using Rock the Vote's voter registration widget. In 2004, Rock the Vote had an 80% fullfillment rate with their online registration campaign. If that number holds true, then Morgan is ~ the 1.6 millionth person to register to vote via RTV. Still an absolutely amazing number.

Overseas Vote Foundation reports great success at registering young expats:

Of the nearly 90,000 voters it [OVF] has helped to register, 26 percent are first-time voters and for 70 percent this is the first time they will vote from overseas. More than one-third are younger than 30. The voting experience of these new and young voters is significant because it could affect their inclination to vote again in the future,... '

A staffer from the Overseas Vote Foundation expressed great hope that they might register up to 50,000 young Americans overseas before the deadlines hit.

I just heard from the California Young Democrats that Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill allowing online voter registration in California, making the state one of only three in the nation to allow its citizens to fully complete the voter registration process online (Arizona and Washington are the two other states).

Congrats to the CYD's who made phone calls and wrote letters to drum up support for the bill.

Soon registering to vote in California will be as easy as a few keystrokes, thanks to Senate Bill 381 (Calderon), which Governor Schwarzenegger signed today. The measure will usher in the era of online voter registration in California.

"Californians can pay bills and file their taxes online. Being able to register to vote online is the next logical step in making it easier for Californians to participate fully in their democracy," said Secretary of State Debra Bowen, California's chief elections officer. "This measure prevents fraud by limiting online voter registration to people who confirm their identity in a secure manner."

The online registration system will require registrants to provide their birth dates, the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, and the numbers from either a valid California driver's license or identification card. The Secretary of State may require additional information if it's necessary to establish a registrant's identity.

Registrants will be able to complete voter registration online using their digitized signatures that are already on file with the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Steve Fenberg, my good buddy at New Era Colorado, sent me a note on Facebook today about some good things happening in Colorado.

In recent news you've heard about the exciting possibility of various non-profit organizations who are registering huge numbers of people online with their various tools available for such finery.

The state of Colorado is pushing a piece of legislation through that would enable anyone in the state to register online via a secure server through the state. (currently only Arizona and Washington State does)

The bill has passed through the Senate and will be heard in the House tomorrow or Monday. Learn more and write your Rep now. This one is important! Takes 2 seconds

Secondly, CO is working to join with a few other states and counties across the country that are allowing 17 year-olds to caucus if they will be 18 by the November election.

The efforts were begun by Denver Science and Tech senior Sam Brasch. This happened when Sam got screwed by being able to participate in the Colorado Caucuses this year.

The language reads

"Ten other states allow 17-year-olds to participate in the nomination process. Colorado could become the eleventh. The state could encourage teens to become politically active in high school and force politicians to be aware of teen concerns. Colorado could recognize a simple moral claim: if you can choose between the two final candidates, you should be allowed to choose amongst the larger pool."

Sign Sam's petition here

Sorry for the short post, we're having tornadoes again tonight...

A few weeks back, I wrote a post about the number of new voters that had registered using the Rock the Vote/CREDO Action Widget and the Declare Yourself online registration form. At the time, I noted that all together over half a million new young voters had been registered this cycle.

This was incorrect.

Those figures did not represent the total number of registrations, but rather the total number of people who had accessed one of the two online registration tools and downloaded the registration form. As of yet there are no confirmed numbers for how many new voters actually complete the registration process.

For what it is worth, I’m told that somewhere between 70 to 80 percent of people do complete the registration process by election day (based on numbers from 2004).

In the last week I've spoken to people from Declare Yourself and Rock the Vote, the two nonpartisan organizations making a major push to register voters via online registration. So far, it looks like they are both kicking ass and taking names.

According to Rock the Vote, as of Thursday over 300,000 18-29 year olds had used the RTV/CREDO Action widget to register young voters. About another 123,000 voters older than 30 had also registered via the tool. According to Declare Yourself, 260,000 young people have registered via their website so far this cycle.

That means that over half a million new young voters were added to the rolls so far this cycle. In 2004, Rock the Vote registered 1.2 million new young voters, 800,000 of which went to the polls. It's barely February and they've already achieved 1/4 of their previous total. And the folks at Declare Yourself believe that they are on track to exceed their stated target of 2 million new young voters.

This is huge for Democrats and for the youth vote community.