State Rep. Mike Armanini was one of more than five dozen members of the House Republican Caucus who signed on to a letter to Gov. Josh Shapiro late last week calling on him to address concerns with the state’s automatic voter registration program raised in a recent court decision.
The program automatically takes residents, who are obtaining new or renewed driver licenses and ID cards and are eligible to vote, through the voter registration application process unless they choose to opt out of doing so. Previously, residents were first asked if they wanted to register to vote and then were directed to the voter registration application.
Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court issued a ruling involving a contested ballot in a Luzerne County primary election. The voter who cast the contested ballot had testified before a lower court that he believed changing his vehicle registration address — not his driver’s license — had triggered a change in his voter registration address. The majority of the court ruled PennDOT lacks the authority to make such a change outside the scope of a state driver’s license or identification card update.
Auditor General Tim DeFoor also announced recently he would conduct an audit of the automatic voter registration program, saying sufficient data is now available to assess the program which was launched one year ago by the governor.
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