This measure could play an important role in the 2024 presidential election in the United States, because Pennsylvania is a “swing state”, where voters sometimes vote Democratic and sometimes Republican.
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This is an initiative that could have serious consequences during the 2024 American presidential election. Pennsylvania has just adopted automatic registration on the electoral lists, a mechanism which is already in force in 23 American states as well as in Washington, in the District of Columbia.
The process consists of automatically registering on the electoral roll any person who obtains their driving license or who has an identity card made. You simply must be an American citizen, reside in Pennsylvania for at least 30 days before an election, and be at least 18 years old on the date of the next election. From there, registration is done on the electoral lists, no need to do the process yourself.
It was the new Democratic governor Josh Shapiro, elected in 2022, who decided to adopt this measure. At the end of his campaign last November, he received two strong endorsements: President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama came on stage to call for votes for him.
The measure could favor Democrats
This automatic registration on the electoral lists could play an important role in the presidential election because Pennsylvania is a “swing state”, a see-saw state. He sometimes votes Democratic and sometimes Republican. It was won by Donald Trump in 2016, but it was Joe Biden who won in 2020. The current president won at the time by just over 80,000 votes.
Young voters automatically registered on the lists tend to vote Democratic, and those who do not necessarily register on the lists come from poor minorities in the black or Latino outskirts of cities, who are also rather close to Democratic ideas. All of this could have a big influence on the 2024 US presidential election.
Today there are 8.7 million registered voters in Pennsylvania but there are 10.3 million potential voters in this state where Joe Biden was born almost 81 years ago. Pennsylvania could well allow him, along with other states, to win a second term.