WILTON DEMS SUPPORT HB 5514

The Wilton Democratic Town Committee strongly supports legislation that will enhance and automate the Department of Motor Vehicle’s role in registering voters. It is dismayed that Republican Rep. Tom O’Dea of Wilton and New Canaan has sought to impede the progress of Connecticut HB 5514. Representative O’Dea’s position is the antithesis to the WDTC’s mission to increase voter registration and participation.

The DMV already conducts voter registration, but not efficiently. It mails voter registration forms when it sends out registration renewals, but these forms often confuse already registered voters. Under HB 5514 the DMV would now record new applications electronically and transmit them automatically to local registrars, eliminating incomplete or illegible forms that simply waste time and produce additional phone calls to the DMV. This is why Wilton Registrar of Voters Carole Young-Kleinfeld supports this legislation.

Rep. O’Dea’s position that ineligible voters—undocumented individuals, for example—would find it easier to register to vote illegally under the new system is simply a red herring. Controls are already in place to prevent this in the case of driver registration. Local registrars still have final approval and the opportunity to detect duplicate or incomplete voter registrations. HB5514 would simply make more effective, less confusing and less wasteful a role that the DMV has already been assigned under state and federal law. What’s more, the bill would not take effect until 2017, giving DMV offices ample time to prepare.

Although Rep. O’Dea states that he supports making voter registration accessible, his opposition to a proposal that would actually make it easier for all citizens to participate in the electoral process is disappointing. His position runs counter to everything the Wilton Democratic Town Committee—and this country—stands for.

Wilton Democratic Town Committee

Deborah McFadden, Chair

Robert Carney, Communications