By Community Alliance Staff
Covered California is sending voter registration cards to nearly 4 million California residents who enrolled in healthcare through them. The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) requires states to make voter registration opportunities available at offices that provide public services. The act is designed to make it easier for all Americans to vote and maintain their registration, and Covered California must comply with the NVRA requirements.
By the fall of 2014, Covered California will incorporate voter registration services into every way the consumer engages with Covered California, including online, in-person, by mail and in telephone transactions. Advocates are hailing this move as a way to promote increased democracy by providing everyone who is eligible with the opportunity to register to vote.
According to the Secretary of State’s Web site, there are more than 6.4 million unregistered eligible voters in California, the majority of whom are Latinos and young people. Currently, Latinos make up 62% of eligible unregistered voters, according to a report by the Public Policy Institute of California.
All California residents who are U.S. citizens and at least 18 years or older may register to vote. Individuals must also not be in prison, on parole, serving a state prison sentence in county jail, serving a sentence for a felony or on post-release community supervision, and must not be currently judged by a court to be mentally incompetent. Applicants will receive voter eligibility information and answer voter eligibility questions when they apply to register to vote.
For more information, visit www.coveredca.com/faqs/Voter-Registration.
