Same-day registration expected before Senate

BOSTON. Today, a scaled back version of a bill allowing unregistered voters to both register and vote on Election Day is expected to appear before Senate debate, according to Sen. Edward Augustus, the Election Laws Committee co-chair.

The proposal would require each municipality to have at least one polling place that would conduct same-day registration for the 2008 general election. According to the revised bill, unregistered voters could register to vote and cast their ballot in their city or town hall regardless of their home precinct. 

Same-day registration would be expanded in 2010 to call for all of the state’s voter precincts to conduct Election Day registration.

Unlike the initial bill, the revised bill would make same-day registration permanent after 2010.

Dissenting opinions to the bill feel that same day registration could lead to voter fraud, while those in favor of the bill see a potential for a greater turnout at the polls.

According to one study released by Demos — a nonpartisan think tank — researchers determined that the amount of voters would increase by 4.9 percent, resulting in more than 225,000 additional votes cast in Massachusetts.

Avi Green, the executive director of MassVOTE says the bill represents the “biggest step forward for voters” since 18-year-olds were granted the right to vote in 1971.