Brennan Center for Justice

Massachusetts currently has the Automated Registration at DMVs component of Voter Registration Modernization in place.

The excerpt below was adapted from an appendix to the 2010 report Voter Registration in a Digital Age.

Background
The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) has transmitted data to election officials since it began offering voter registration in the mid-1990s. These transmissions have included digitized signatures since at least 2000, making the transfer of registrations entirely electronic. Elections Director Michelle Tassinari reports that the automated system works well. State officials have recently discussed adopting an online registration system, although development in this direction must await the completion of a project to upgrade or replace their voter registration database system over the next two years.

How Automated Registration Works in Massachusetts
RMV visitors apply for a driver’s license or state ID card by filling out a form that includes a voter registration section. All applicants are asked to answer the first question, whether they would like to register to vote or to update their registration. Those who answer "yes" will then check boxes to indicate that they are age-eligible U.S. citizens and select a party preference. The section concludes with an affirmation that applicants registering to vote are asked to read, and which states that by signing at the bottom of the form, they are swearing that they are eligible to vote and have provided accurate information.

Visitors return these forms to an RMV employee and provide an electronic signature. The forms are then copied into the RMV database. If a form has been checked for voter registration, its electronic signature and the data required for voter registration will automatically be collected and forwarded to election officials.

In the past, Massacusetts has considered the following VRM-related legislation:

• Pre-Registration. Provides for pre-registration starting at age 16. (S.B. 302, Companion to bill H.B.1979)
• Pre-Registration. Provides for pre-registration starting at age 16. (H.B. 4022)
• Election Day Registration. Provides for Election Day registration, online registration, pre-registration starting at age 16 and an advisory committee on implementation. (S.B. 306)
• Election Day Registration. Provides for Election Day Registration and an advisory committee on implementation. (S.B. 301, Companion to H.B. 1106)
• Election Day Registration. Establishes an Election Day Registration task force. (H.B. 3115)
• Election Day Registration. This bill would establish Election Day Registration. (S. 301)
• Online Registration. This bill would establish online voter registration. (S. 298)
• Online Registration. Provides for online registration. (S.B. 298)
• Multiple Provisions. This bill would modernize Massachusetts's voter registration system through, among other provisions, online registration and automated registration at various agencies. (S. 306)