Automatic Voter Registration

"We see strong support for these initiatives from independents, Democrats and Republicans," said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause. "The question is whether incumbent officials will wake up to understand that people really do want democracy and that power belongs to the people."

Today, Common Cause released a new report on more than two dozen ballot initiatives and state constitutional amendments to strengthen, and in some cases undercut, democracy that will be decided by voters at the state and local level in November. “Democracy on the Ballot” traces the growing momentum behind citizen-driven pro-democracy reforms in recent years and examines initiatives and amendments on ballots in the 2018 general election from Florida to California and from North Dakota to New Mexico and urges support or opposition to each.

With Election Day now less than two months away, Common Cause released its 2018 Democracy Scorecard to chart the positions of every Member of Congress on issues vital to the health of our democracy. The reforms in question range from legislation to create a small donor matching fund system and increased disclosure requirements for outside political groups to bills to curb gerrymandering and strengthen the protections in the Voting Rights Act.

Voting is one of the fundamental ways Americans can make their voices heard in our democracy. But too often, the process of registering to vote can be tricky, confusing, and complicated. That’s one of the reasons why Common Cause has a nationwide campaign to push for a new innovative reform to make the process of voter registration more convenient and secure. It’s called automatic voter registration (AVR).

The Bay State is on its way to becoming the 14th state to adopt the innovative reform since 2015

The list of states inviting qualified residents to participate in our democracy by automatically registering them to vote continues to grow.