Secretary of the State Denise Merrill and Governor Malloy announced that state residents can now register online to vote, making Connecticut the 15th state to allow its residents to do so and the first in the Northeast.
People who will be at least 18 years old by election day and have a valid Connecticut driver’s license can visit https://voterregistration.ct.gov and fill out a voter registration form, the data from which is sent to the registrar of voters in the town where the new voter lives. The registrar then checks the data to ensure that it’s accurate and, as long it is, adds the new voter to the voter rolls.
When filling out the form, the new voter must “sign” it electronically, using his or her electronic signature on file at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Merrill hopes the new, potentially easier method of voter registration will allow more people to register. For example, the website also allows voters to change their address if they have moved within the same town (voters moving to a new town must reregister to vote). Electronic registration, Merrill believes, will reduce errors resulting from reading hand-written information.
