It seems routine today. But it wasn't always the case that you could register to vote when you went to get your driver's license.
People in all 50 states can do that today on a one-page, standardized form, thanks to the National Voter Registration Act, signed into law 20 years ago today.
The act also enables people to register to vote when applying for state aid and gives volunteer organizations the ability to conduct voter registration drives.
But, as we all know, that act doesn't mark the end of efforts to improve voting access or the end of efforts of others to make it harder for people to vote.
Here in Montana, the 2013 Legislative Session saw several attacks on voter registration -- all designed to impose additional barriers to voting. A bill to further restrict the forms of identification that can be used to register and to vote at the ballot box was defeated. Another to end Montana's same-day voter registration allowing residents to register at the ballot box was vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock.
Unfortunately, that same bill to end Election Day voter registration was resurrected as a legislative referendum and will come before voters in November 2014. We urge you to oppose that ballot measure.
We should be doing more to help people vote, not making it harder for them vote.
