***MEDIA ADVISORY***
TELECONFERENCE JANUARY 28, 2009
AT 10:00 AM:
ACLU of Maryland, DEMOS, Wisconsin Election Officials to Present Special Briefing on Election Day Registration in Maryland
Dial-In For Reporters: 1-518-825-1300, Access Code: 373350
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR
January 28, 2009
CONTACT: Meredith Curtis, ACLU of Maryland, 410-889-8555; media@aclu-md.org
BALTIMORE – The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and DEMOS will hold a teleconference press briefing to discuss a special presentation for Maryland policy makers on Election Day Registration: how it has worked for over three decades in the State of Wisconsin. The briefing will showcase how Election Day Registration can work successfully, affordably and reliably here in Maryland.
The briefing will feature the head election administrator for the State of Wisconsin: Kevin Kennedy, Director and General Counsel, Government Accountability Board, State of Wisconsin; the election manager for Franklin, WI: Sandra L. Wesolowski, City Clerk, Franklin, Wisconsin; and Steve Carbo, Senior Program Director, Democracy Program, DEMOS.
**The group will be publicly briefing the Senate Education, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee and the House Ways & Means Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 1:00 PM in the Joint Hearing Room of the Legislative Services Building in Annapolis.***
WHAT: Teleconference press briefing to discuss Election Day Registration in Maryland
WHO: Kevin Kennedy, Director and General Counsel, Government Accountability Board, State of Wisconsin; Sandra L. Wesolowski, City Clerk, Franklin, WI; Steve Carbo, Senior Program Director, Democracy Program, DEMOS; and Cindy Boersma, ACLU-MD Legislative Director
WHEN: Wednesday, January 28 at 10:00 AM
NUMBER: 1-518-825-1300, Access Code: 373350
BACKGROUND: Election Day Registration (EDR), also known as “same-day voter registration,” permits eligible citizens to register and vote on Election Day. Nine states had EDR in the 2008 elections.
* They boast higher-than-average voter turnout;
* Reported few problems with fraud;
* Insignificant changes in costs, or administrative difficulty; and
* Enhanced citizen’s participation in our democratic process.
These benefits led half a dozen states to seriously consider EDR during the 2005 legislative session and Montana to enact EDR for their 2006 elections. There were also a number of EDR campaigns in 2007 that led to the adoption Same Day Registration laws in Iowa and North Carolina[ii] <#_edn2> . The number of states considering EDR proposals continues to grow and in 2008 West Virginia instituted an EDR study commission. As a matter of fact, since the elections of 2000, at least 34 states, in every region of the country, have considered a proposal for “Same Day” or “Election Day” Registration.