As National Voter Registration Month Comes to an End, Menendez, Booker, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Make Registering to Vote Easier for All Americans

Before the end of National Voter Registration Month, U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both-D-N.J.) joined several of the colleagues in the Senate during National Voter Registration Month in presenting two bills that would make it easier for Americans all across the country to register to vote and to know their registration status. The Same Day Voter Registration Act would require states to offer same day registration at polling locations on Election Day and during early voting. The Stop Automatically Voiding Eligible Voters Off Their Enlisted Rolls in States (SAVE VOTERS) Act would prohibit states from removing people from their voting rolls unless the state has obtained objective, reliable evidence that a voter is ineligible to vote and establishes notification requirements once a voter is removed. These bills were included as part of the Freedom to Vote Act, voting rights legislation support by the entire Senate Democratic Caucus.

"The right to vote, a fundamental building block of American democracy, is under attack by extreme Republicans who are determined to make it harder to vote for communities of color, seniors, and young voters," said Sen. Menendez. "Given this coordinated assault against our right to vote, I am honored to support these common-sense bills that will expand access to the ballot box for all Americans and will protect them from any effort that would make it harder for them to exercise their right to vote."

"The right to vote is essential for the future of our democracy and our ideals of liberty and justice for all," said Sen. Booker. "But for years, this right has been systematically undermined and new barriers have been implemented to make it more difficult for people, especially low-income and minority communities, to exercise their right to vote. I am proud to support these commonsense measures that will expand and protect one of our most fundamental rights."

The Same Day Voter Registration Act would:

Require states to offer same day registration at polling locations on Election Day and during any early voting period;
Require states to offer same day registration at all polling places by the 2026 general election, but create a waiver process to give states until the 2028 general election to comply if earlier compliance would be impracticable.
Mandate that states have at least one location per 15,000 registered voters with same day registration by the 2024 general election; and
Ensure that centralized same day registration locations are reasonably located to serve the voting population equitably.

The SAVE VOTERS Act would:

Amend the National Voter Registration Act to prohibit states from removing people from voting rolls unless the state has obtained objective and reliable evidence that a person is ineligible to vote. The legislation would clarify that failure to vote or respond to election mail would not constitute objective and reliable evidence of a voter's ineligibility to vote;
Allow election officials to use state records to remove voters who have died or permanently moved out of the state;
Require election officials to send a notice explaining the grounds for removal within 48 hours of removing voters from the rolls and provide public notice within 48 hours after any general program to remove voters; and
Revise the voting procedure for a voter who failed to report a change of address by allowing a voter who moved within a state to vote at the polling place of the voter's current address or at a central location in the jurisdiction of the local voter registration office.

The Same Day Voter Registration Act and the Save Voters Act are also cosponsored by many Democratic Senators including Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Angus King (I-Maine).

Both bills are endorsed by Democracy 21, Transparency International U.S., End Citizens United/Let America Vote Action Fund, Common Cause, Public Citizen, People for the American Way, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, 20/20 Vision DC, Voices for Progress, and the League of Women Voters.

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