New Yorkers with driver’s licenses or non-driver
identification will be able to register to vote online or through kiosks at
state Department of Motor Vehicle locations.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration announced the
get-out-the-vote initiative at a Thursday news conference, noting that New York
ranks 47th in the nation for voter registration with only 64 percent of
eligible voters registered. Good-government groups said the effort would increase
voter registration, improve accuracy in voter rolls and cut postage and
data-entry costs.
“Today, we are knocking down longstanding barriers that
have prevented many New Yorkers from participating in the democratic process,
while creating a more streamlined and more efficient system that will save
taxpayers’ money,” Cuomo said in a statement.
The state’s 129 DMV branches collect, sort and mail
roughly 300,000 voter registration forms a year to county boards of elections.
The new system, which will also allow already-registered voters to change their
addresses or party enrollments, will eliminate the need to mail the forms and
will limit human error that occurs during manual data input, officials said.
Cuomo’s aides explained that registering electronically
will be as secure as doing so in person because those who have obtained
driver’s licenses or non-driver IDs would have had to prove their identity to
obtain those documents. The website, called MyDMV, verifies personal
information such as an applicant’s license document number, Social Security
number, date of birth and address.
The DMV is expected to save at least $270,000 annually.
Additionally, it is estimated the county boards will save $150,000 a year.
Cuomo officials said the launch of the program is not
tied to this year’s elections, which is an election year for president,
Congress and the state Legislature.
Online voter registration is up and running, but the DMV
will have to print out the completed online forms and mail them to county boards
of elections. The registrations should be transmitted electronically starting
as early as this fall, officials said.
Those who wish to vote in the state-level primary
elections, which are Sept. 13, must register online by Sunday. Friday is the
deadline for registering in person or for postmarking mailed applications.
The simplified Web format will be available for
non-native English speakers in Chinese, Korean and Bengali, instead of only
English and Spanish, which are currently offered. A study in Arizona, which has
a similar program, showed that young and minority voters are more likely to
register online.
Fourteen other states currently or will soon offer online
voter registration.
To register, visit the site at https://my.dmv.ny.gov
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