The California health insurance marketplace is branching out into voter registration.
Covered California will be the first health exchange to offer potential insurance buyers the chance to sign up to vote under the federal “motor voter” act, which offers applicants for driver’s licenses the opportunity to register under that law.
California’ Secretary of State Debra Bowen on Wednesday designated Covered California as a voter registration agency under the National Voter Registration Act.
“Secretary Bowen’s decision to include the state’s Health Benefit Exchange as a voter registration agency is one of the most significant voter registration policy decisions in the state’s history and will bring millions of Californians into the democratic process in our state,” said Lori Shellenberger, director of the Voting Rights Project of the ACLU of California.
About 6 million Californians are eligible to vote but remain unregistered, the ACLU says.
Republican lawmakers expressed concerns that the potential pool of Covered California registrants, many of low-income status, would be largely Democrats.
State Senate GOP leader Bob Huff told the Sacramento Bee, “It does beg the question about whether it’s a systematic attempt to try to empower people more predisposed to vote their way.”
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