(CN) — The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with Alaska to resolve complaints that the state was not complying with certain parts of the National Voter Registration Act.
Passed in 1993, the law includes a provision known as the "motor voter" law, which requires states to offer everyone who applies for or renews a driver's license the opportunity to register to vote on the same application. The law also requires states to automatically update the voter registration for anyone who submits a change of address form for the purposes of a driver's license or other identification, unless they opt out.
According to a Justice Department statement, an investigation found that "applications and renewals for Alaska’s driver’s licenses and identification documents did not consistently serve as voter registration applications," and that "procedures by which citizens notify the state’s motor vehicle office that their address had changed did not serve as a notification of change of address for voter registration purposes.
Under the terms of the settlement, Alaska will reverse those two practices and will hire voter registrations coordinators at every Division of Motor Vehicles office in the state.
“The ability to register to vote and to update voter registration information easily and conveniently is essential in a robust, inclusive democracy,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement. “This agreement is part of our commitment to ensuring that eligible voters across Alaska have access to voter registration opportunities required by federal law."
Phone calls to the office of Alaska's governor and secretary of state have not been returned.
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