With the decline of turnouts in voting these past years in Hawaii, the automatic voter registration should be implemented.

Common Cause Hawai’i is a non-profit organization that fights for improvement in government operations.

Having this reform will increase voter turnouts. According to Hawai’i state records, in 2014 the turnout percentage was 47.7%. Compare that to 2008, there is a 20% turnout difference.

Corie Tanida said that right now voting requires the necessary paperwork of proving to be a Hawai’i resident, being over 18 years of age, a social security card, and a birth certificate. The idea of automatic voter registration will be more easier now due to signing up for voting online instead of papers and papers that have to be written. Which is all the paperwork that is required to receive a drivers’ license.

On the other hand, an increase of voter registration does not mean a higher percentage of voter turnouts. Therefore, someone may have been registered to vote but it doesn’t mean he or she will actually vote on Election Day.

Despite this issue, the automatic voter registration makes registering to vote more simpler than going on Election Day and holding up a line to put a vote in the ballot.