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Pennsylvania, a battleground state that would play an outsize position within the 2024 presidential election, will start to robotically register new voters as a part of its driver’s license and state ID approval course of, officers mentioned on Tuesday.
This system, which was introduced by Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, is just like these supplied in 23 different states and the District of Columbia, in response to the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures.
Voters should meet sure eligibility necessities, which embrace being a U.S. citizen and a Pennsylvania resident for at the least 30 days earlier than an election. Additionally they should be at the least 18 years previous on the date of the following election.
“Computerized voter registration is a common sense step to make sure election safety and save Pennsylvanians time and tax {dollars},” Mr. Shapiro mentioned in a press release. “Residents of our Commonwealth already present proof of id, residency, age and citizenship on the D.M.V. — all the knowledge required to register to vote — so it makes good sense to streamline that course of with voter registration.”
Within the 2020 election and the midterm races final 12 months, Pennsylvania was a hotbed of falsehoods about voter fraud, promoted by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies. Republicans within the state have mounted a collection of unsuccessful authorized challenges over voters’ eligibility and absentee ballots that didn’t have dates written on their return envelopes, which a state legislation requires.
The transfer to computerized voter registration, which begins Tuesday, comes as each Republicans and Democrats regulate the state because the 2024 race heats up.
The state the place President Biden was born, Pennsylvania may decide not solely whether or not he’s elected to a second time period, but in addition whether or not Democrats preserve management of the carefully divided Senate. Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat in his third time period, is going through a key re-election check.
Within the close to time period, a particular election within the Pittsburgh space on Tuesday was anticipated to find out the stability of energy in Pennsylvania’s Home of Representatives.
Pennsylvania had about 8.7 million registered voters as of December 2022, in response to state officers, who, citing census figures, estimated that about 10.3 million residents had been eligible to register to vote.
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