NEW YORK—(ENEWSPF)—January 3, 2016. As of this weekend, new laws going into effect in Oregon and California mean that residents there will be automatically registered to vote when they get a driver’s license. In her campaign, Hillary Clinton has called for universal voter registration, where every citizen in every state in the union would be automatically registered to vote when they turn 18 – unless they actively choose to opt out. Clinton rolled out her comprehensive vision for how to expand access to the ballot box for all Americans and how to defend against Republican assaults on voting rights during a speech in Houston, Texas, early in this campaign.
In response to the new laws taking effect in California and Oregon, Hillary Clinton released the following statement:
“I applaud California and Oregon for automatically registering people to vote when they get their drivers’ licenses. The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, and America is stronger when more of us vote. That’s why I and many others have been alarmed to see several states make it harder — not easier — for people to vote. That’s wrong, and goes against everything our country stands for. California and Oregon have the right idea. I hope more states follow their lead. And I hope more Americans step up to defend this right for themselves and each other.”
Hillary Clinton has been defending and championing voting rights throughout her career. In the 1970s, Clinton worked to register Latino voters in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley. As a Senator, she introduced the Count Every Vote Act, which would have made Election Day a federal holiday and mandated early voting opportunities, made voter deception efforts a federal crime, and restored the voting rights of many Americans with criminal convictions who have paid their debt to society.
Source: www.hillaryclinton.com