National Association of Social Workers / Connecticut Chapter
Shannon Perkins, LMSW, President
Stephen Wanczyk- Karp, LMSW, Executive Director
Testimony on 5872: An Act Expanding Automatic Voter Registration
Government Administration and Elections Committee
March 19, 2021
Submitted by: Stephen Wanczyk-Karp, LMSW
On behalf of the National Association of Social Workers, CT Chapter representing over 2,300 members, we support Bill 5872.
Voting is the basis of a democracy and as such it should be conducted in ways that makes voter registration easy and accessible to all eligible voters. Bill 5872 does exactly this by expanding Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) to certain state agencies beyond the Department of Motor Vehicles. Amongst those agencies is the Departments of Social Services and Labor, both departments that serve significant numbers of low-income and vulnerable populations that are less likely to be registered voters.
A poll by Secure Democracy reports that 77% of CT residents polled support AVR. The Center for American Progress estimates that 245,000 new voters will be added to the voting rolls. This alone is sufficient benefit to expand AVR. Added to this good news, there is a financial savings from going from paper registration to electronic registration of about $3.54 per registrant. Any AVT system adopted in Connecticut will have the security of conforming to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, P.L. 103-31.
We live in a world of electronic communication and commerce. It is time that our state voter registration process be brought up to 21st century standards.
NASW/CT sees voting as a right of every eligible resident. Elected officials set policies that affect all residents and every eligible voter should have the option and ease of Automatic Voter Registration so that they can have a voice in who represents them at all levels of government. We urge the GAE Committee to pass bill 5872.