The PennZone

Harrisburg, PA ~ On Tuesday, Governor Josh Shapiro implemented automatic voter registration (AVR) in Pennsylvania to promote election security and safety, save taxpayers money, and streamline the voter registration process. Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt and Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Secretary Mike Carroll have highlighted how AVR makes Pennsylvania's elections more secure.

AVR is a step to help ensure election security and increase voter participation. Pennsylvanians already provide proof of identity, residency, age, and citizenship at the PennDOT drivers and licensing centers – all the info required to register to vote. Electronic registrations recorded during driver's license center interactions are more secure and take a fraction of the time to process. Implementing AVR will help local election officials receive regular updates when residents obtain new identification – which residents often do when they change their name or address – to maintain the accuracy of Pennsylvania's voter rolls.

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When asked how AVR makes elections more secure, Secretary Schmidt said that "whenever you have more information captured in a voter registration record – and I ran elections for 10 years in Pennsylvania's largest county – the more information that's attached to that record, like a driver's license number, the more easy it is to identify to make sure a voter doesn't for example, register more than once, and if a voter moves from one county to another, [it is easier] to link that record to eliminate any opportunity for a voter to cast more than one vote."

PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll also commented on what happens if someone does not have citizenship or is not eligible for voting: "It doesn't even appear. If you are not an eligible voter, then you are disqualified from proceeding any further and you end the transaction with your photo without being able to register to vote."

The implementation of AVR in Pennsylvania is expected to improve election security while saving taxpayers money by streamlining the registration process.

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