BILL NUMBER: AJR 36INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fong FEBRUARY 19, 2010 Relative to the Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AJR 36, as introduced, Fong. Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009. This measure would urge the Congress and President of the United States to enact the Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009. Fiscal committee: no. WHEREAS, California and the nation have begun to facilitate the modernization of the voter registration process; and WHEREAS, Nearly three million registered voters could not cast a ballot during the 2008 presidential election because, in part, of a problem with the voter registrations and an additional two million registered voters who went to the polls during the 2008 presidential election encountered other problems with their registration; and WHEREAS, House Resolution 1719, the Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009, would amend the Voter Registration Modernization Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973gg); and WHEREAS, The Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009, if enacted into law, would allow all eligible citizens to register to vote or to update their voter registrations on the Internet; and WHEREAS, By allowing voters to update and check their registration information on the Internet, the Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009 would reduce the need for provisional ballots on election day, minimize errors created by third-party registration efforts, reduce the cost associated with preparing for elections, protect against fraud, and assure that voters receive timely and accurate information related to voting; and WHEREAS, The Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009 would prohibit the states from purging a voter from the rolls because he or she has not voted and would allow a state to remove a voter's name from the rolls only for reason of the voter moving out of the state, the death of the voter, or loss of eligibility to vote by the voter because of the commission of a felony; and WHEREAS, The Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009 would provide voters with the option to be notified electronically of the addresses and hours of operation of the voter's polling place on election day; and WHEREAS, The Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009 would permit the states to make available to voters a telephone-based voter registration system in addition to the Internet registration system that would be required by the act; and WHEREAS, The Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009 would require online voter registration systems to capture a voter's signature for verification through appropriate databases and, if the voter's signature is not accessible using appropriate databases, would require the voter to provide his or her signature when voting; and WHEREAS, The Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009 would require that a voter who is registering online for the first time within a jurisdiction meet the individual state's requirements for first-time mail voter registrations, as required by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) (42 U.S.C. Sec. 15301 et seq.); and WHEREAS, If the Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009 is enacted, the states would be able to begin using funds provided by HAVA to carry out the requirements of the act in the 2010 federal fiscal year, voters would be able to use the Internet to update their voter registration information beginning in 2012, and the requirement for each state to allow for online voter registration would go into effect for 2016; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California supports the Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2009 and respectfully memorializes the Congress of the United States to promptly pass the act and President Barack Obama to sign the act; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and each Senator and Representative representing California in the Congress of the United States.