Report Title:

Voter Registration

Description:

Requires the office of elections to make voter registration forms available to eligible public and private high school seniors upon request by school administrators.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

569

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to voter registration.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The twenty-sixth amendment to the United States Constitution afforded persons eighteen years of age or older the right to vote. In 1972, the first election year in which eighteen year olds were allowed to vote, forty-nine per cent of eligible voters between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four cast ballots. Nearly twenty years later in 2000, that rate has dropped significantly to thirty-two per cent.

The legislature finds that to increase voter turnout among this demographic of young voters, voter registration forms need to be more readily available.

The purpose of this Act is to make voter registration forms available to eligible high school seniors upon request by private or public high school administrators.

SECTION 2. Section 11-15.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§11-15.5[]] Duties of all state agencies; voter registration. (a) Each state agency that deals with the public shall make available to each member of the public eighteen years of age or older an application in the form of an affidavit for voter registration pursuant to section 11-15. The application shall be available by mail or in person depending on the manner in which the agency's services are requested by the person. The form of the application may be identical to that described and found in public telephone directories.

(b) Upon request by the school's administrator, the office of elections shall make available an application in the form of an affidavit for voter registration, pursuant to section 11-15, to all high school students eighteen years of age or older, graduating from a public or private high school. The office shall transmit or otherwise make the forms available to the school administration, which shall be responsible for distribution to the eligible students."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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