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States Push For Automatic Voter Registration To Boost Turnout

A voter casts a ballot at an early voting site in Albuquerque, N.M., on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016. (Susan Montoya Bryan/AP Photo)
A voter casts a ballot at an early voting site in Albuquerque, N.M., on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016. (Susan Montoya Bryan/AP Photo)

Lawmakers in 29 states and the District of Columbia have considered laws to automatically register voters.

Oregon, California, Vermont, West Virginia, Connecticut and Alaska all have some provision for state offices — usually through the Department of Motor Vehicles — to automatically add eligible citizens to the voter rolls unless they opt out.

Daniel Diorio, a policy specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures (@NCSLorg), tells Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson how the laws work.

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