Automatic voter registration rebounds in Georgia after error corrected – By Mark Niesse (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) / May 23, 2022
The state’s automatic voter registration system was broken in Georgia for 15 months. A minor change to a registration website fixed it instantly.
Voter registrations skyrocketed last month after the Georgia Department of Driver Services resumed signing up eligible voters by default unless they opted out.
Data provided by the department shows that 72% of citizens submitted voter registration information in April, up from 27% in March. In raw numbers, that amounts to 106,000 registration applications in April, compared with 46,000 in March.
Automatic registration had been turned off since January 2021, when the Department of Driver Services redesigned its registration website as part of a broader technology upgrade. Instead of registering drivers by default, the website required drivers to click “Yes” or “No” when asked whether they wanted to sign up.
