Sep. 22, 2023
HARRISBURG – This week, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced his administration will start automatically registering anyone to vote who either obtains or renews their driver’s license or state I.D.
State Rep. Brian Smith (R-Jefferson/Indiana) issued the following statement on the move:
“I want to make it clear that I support every eligible Pennsylvanian exercising their civic duty and privilege to vote. However, the governor’s stunt does nothing more than wear down voters’ faith in our election system.
“This system is untested. Are these systems secure or are they exposed to hackers and glitches? Will PennDOT staff be trained to address voter registration questions? Will there be duplicate voter registrations? How will this new system prevent the registration of those who are not eligible to vote, like drivers under the age of 18 or non-citizens?
“The short answer is that nobody knows at this point. The governor bypassed the General Assembly to put this system in place. We could have done our due diligence in the lawmaking process rather than fumbling through this hasty executive directive.
“A Democrat ordering automatic voter registration through state I.D. is ironic to me. Republicans have supported using state I.D. to prove voters’ identities at the polls. Democrats have fought this for years, yet now, those same state I.D. cards will automatically register you to vote.
“There’s enough strain on voters’ confidence in our elections as it is. Leave the lawmaking to the lawmakers.”