Very exciting. Automatic registration, what is it . It represents a paradigm shift as we register voters. For the first time in a meaningful way, the government takes the responsibility to inshore that all eligible citizens are on the role if they want to be. For the first time, the right to vote for the first time for the first time, the right to vote is made. We move past the paper and airfield records that clog our system to harness the digital revolution to transfer the information and make the lists real or for the lifetime of the voter. It is a big deal. Nationwide. Nted this would add 50 Million People rolls. It would cost less and it would curb the potential for fraud and abuse and error. It solves the problems of left and right. It is a breakthrough and it is happening, and all of you has so much to do with it, and we are for all of you for being a part of it. It is the wave of the future, but not only the future. It is happening as we speak. Of you know, over the last 1. 5 years, oregon, california, west virginia, and vermont enacted automatic voter. Egistration at the dmvs yesterday, and connecticut, alledge and officials announced Election Officials announced they will be doing automatic registration. This policy works. Orphan, buddha registration in oregon Voter Registration rates are higher. It is hard to think of a policy positive and is hopeful and is imminent and tested as this is. This conference could not come at a better time. This is the First National topicence on this bringing together people from all over the country and all backgrounds in this field. We got folks from 23 states. Activists,ficials, scholars, experts in technology and immigration, and voter utilization and citizenship. Ordinary people who want to learn more and be part of this movement. In the morning, we are going to focus on why this matters. And what the benefits are of this kind of change. We will be hearing from the former attorney general of the United States, eric holder. In the afternoon, we will have a working session learning from each other. Learning lessons on how this reform has been an active. What works . What are the pitfalls to market how can we brought in this movement . Us, howf of all of proud we are to host you today, but be a part of this effort. The Brennan Center, for those who dont know, is a law and policy institute that works to reform and revitalize the systems of democracy and justice in america. We were started two decades ago by the family and clerks of the late, Great Supreme Court brennan, and the document needs to be we are proud to be buried much a part of this effort for the past decade. Was a decade ago when we first issued proposals for automatic registration. A lot of these things are available out in the outside area. Several ofntroduce my colleagues who not only worked on this issue date in and day out, but to make this conference possible. Emailsmes are on the if nothing else. But i want to introduce you to them. Perez, jimr, nina clark and jodi schultz. Around so people know who you are. [applause] hastag ive been told to tell you. Abr. Hastag there is wifi. I did find the opportunity to , butthe lengthy password they are waving pieces of paper around, so it must be important news. Oh, they had the wifi password. If anyone wants access to it, it will be back there and we will be happy to share it. We are eager to work with you to continue as we do, providing with the to work incredible coalitions and states across the country who have the this happened with the officials bringing this to life. So many are here who a good supportive of this effort. On behalf of the british center, we say thank you to all of you and we are thrilled to begin a conversation by hearing from one of the leaders in the country on this movement and in this breakthrough. Padilla,able alex secretary of state of california. He is one of the rising bright stars in our country, not just on this issue. He is a graduate of an i. T. In engineering. He left his job writing software. You dont have to actually be a Rocket Scientist to understand automatic Voter Registration. Turns out, it does not hurt. [laughter] age 26, he was elected to the Los Angeles City. President he with the of the Los Angeles City council. He served in the state senate. Theas elected statewide as secretary of the state of california. Led the fight and persuaded the legislature and now charged with implementing it. Of the National Association of latino elected officials and on the board of overseers of m. I. T. And many other things. We will be hearing more from him in years to come and we are thrilled to be hearing from him right now. Right now, secretary padilla. [applause] idea good morning everybody. Introduction, and said, all no, now comes the expectation. Thanks to michael for the very, very kind introduction and for you for your commitment to the issue. It is an honor to be with all of you. Before i begin with my presentation, a couple of acknowledgments to colleagues in the effort my colleague from west virginia, natalie, we will be hearing from her. About some election reforms you have heard as part of my remarks as well. Most importantly, please welcome, a nice new york welcome whogive thanks to my wife lets me do all of this stuff, angela, who is here with me today. [applause] i stand before all of you and i am getting goosebumps because i isl like so much of my life living the American Dream quite frankly. My parents are immigrants who came to california and los angeles specifically in the late 1960s in different parts of mexico. They met in los angeles and fell in love and decided to seek residency is that a family. There may be a disney movie about that. The meantime, they race three of us. I have an older sister who is in the education space. She has gone from teacher to principal. Younger brother working from the working for the Los Angeles City council. There is Public Service and run through our veins. Parents are recently retired after working for nearly 40 years. My father was a short order cook. My mother used to clean houses. Or the same amount of time hard work, humble work, but like itmany immigrants, they do in pursuit of a better life. Not so much for them, so that bettert generation has opportunities and hopefully, that her life. Now me standing before you as a secretary of state for the most populous state in the nation. What a story. The American Dream is alive and well. I know that our family has been blessed in large part because of country makes possible. That opportunity for education. All made possible because of the thatgth of our democracy should never be taken for granted. It is amendous tremendous time for me to work, not to justice in this democracy but to advance this democracy and keep those doors of opportunities opened for generations to come. When i think about democracy, we know there are varied popular metrics, some points of measurement we refer to, whether it is Voter Registration numbers. I see it more broadly than that. If you look at participation in our demo see as more of a pipeline, or a flowchart, we can look to things like immigration and naturalization and of course Voter Registration and voting as actions by citizens and democracy. On a day in and day out basis, it should include things like parents being involved in their childrens school, or Citizens Land use andr zoning hearings, all things are key part democracy alive and well between elections. Elections are critical. I take my message of participation for any audience that will have you that will have me. Naturalization ceremony that will have me. If you have if you have never observed hundreds of thousands of people becoming United States citizens at one time, you should. It will move you like any other experience well carry those iniences and in places california where i am reminded that not everybody grows up with the lessons being instilled about the importance of being a registered voter and the importance of voting each and every election. There is a number of reasons we all know why not everyone registers and not everyone vote. Chief among them and not understood is poverty. Debate whether it is a correlation or causation, the rate that is on the lower scale of income. We can chalk it up to commute in job schedules and having to have multiple jobs. We will get to that in a minute. Before we get to the voting part, the Voter Registration piece as a process, it has been put in place to clean up r voter roolls the lls. The burden is on the citizen to sign up. The burden is on the citizen to register and to vote. Unfortunately, it has created were too many people are left out of election process. I talk to as many groups as they can. There is an observation that hit me like a ton of bricks when i was talking to one of the high schools not too far from monterey. Most of these events, get introduced by somebody. Local mayorth the School Board Member or School Principal introduce us and far more often than not, i hear their story growing up in a household with their parents instilled in them the importance of being a registered voter and of voting. They would talk about who was on the ballot in what is on the ballot at the dinner table. To the polls in november and brought up with the tradition. Then i would into the eyes of the kids in the audience and i see a bit of a disconnect. I feel a disconnect. Because i was not brought up with those traditions. I wasnt brought up with that experience. Not because my parents did not want to instill that it me or teach me that, but as you recall, my parents were immigrants to the United States. They did not vote because they want eligible to vote. It was not until years later they became citizens. They have not missed an election since. Them with theto polls in november. So many young people today, so many young people today, not just in california, but throughout the nation, have that in common. Whether there parents arent eligible or just not active. I know my experience is not uncommon. In california, there is a magic number 7 million. 7 million is a number of toifornians who are eligible be voters but cannot because they are not registered. Aside from just being a big number, it is important to think of who they are. It is disproportionately working families and the one i grew up in. Disproportionately communities of color. Disproportionately young people. And if you look at what happens in the communities where we live , the most pressing policy challenges that we face from education and quality of our inequality,ncome air quality, health, and chronic disease challenges, there is that consistency again, that correlation between communities of lower voting rates and the most acute challenges to our quality of life. I cannot help but conclude, the me, but there are communities that are not registering are the ones who need to speak louder in our democracy, but dont have that voice because they are not registered. So how can we empower them . How can we do a better job of including them in our democracy . It begins with Voter Registration. And voting. But you cant vote unless you are registered. We have a fundamental right to vote. As president johnson put it, without the right to vote, no other right really matters. Thatg is our democracy and it is voting democracy that the advance policy. It currently exists as the burden on the citizen to opt in. To register. To sign up. And there in lies the barrier. For most of our history, Voter Registration has taken the form of not just filling out a card, but has included things like taxes, howsts, poll many jellybeans in this jar . We may not have that today, but id, purging voter of voter forms, it takes on many forms. It what other right to be sign up for . Freedom of speech . Anybody fill out that form . The right to not be discriminated against . Can i do that online . Our right together here today, this Peaceful Assembly . No other right do we have to sign up for, so why the right to vote . Especially in the digital age with this information, this data to know who is eligible and to register people and administered elections is that much more easy. To paraphrase governor jerry brown from decades ago, she was speaking to a Democratic Convention and sent us a video clip. You says, if government can use these computer things to find us and get us to pay our taxes, then surely we can use these computer things to find people and register them to vote. And i couldnt agree more. Literally just weeks after i was born in a secretary of state, the bill was cleared by the legislature and landed on the desk of former secretary of state, now governor kate brown. Organs automatic Voter Registration into law. When i made the announcement, if its good enough for or gone, it is good enough if it is good enough for oregon, it is good enough for california. I think the Brennan Center for being a huge partner for the drafting and messaging of it in the rallying and support around it in front of the legislature and the governor. It was a big part of our success. Creditoregon a lot of for being the pioneers on missed. They estimate that over time, they will register hundreds of thousands of previously unregistered voters in the process. California, we are want to register millions. In california, we are going to register millions. That is an historic shift. To give voice to millions of new voters is transformational. By doing it in california, we dont want to pat ourselves on the back, but if we can remove every excuse for every other state. If california can do it, if california, the most diverse state in the nation can do it, if we can figure out the technology of how to do it with not,e renewals and this is there is no reason it cant be done anywhere else. Remember, fort to those who say, why should we be doing this anyway . It has been federal law for more than 20 years now that every state, through the department of Motor Vehicles, facilitate the ability for someone to vote or update their Voter Registration. The national Voter Registration we have had this responsibility already. We are talking about is doing it better. Givene technology the technology we have today. 90 of the public, 90 of eligible voters interact with dmv at some point. I detect the new motor voter is a Technology Project of people who are otherwise eligible to vote and have two state agencies share this information. The department of Motor Vehicles in the secretary of state office. That is what we are talking about. Building on information that is already being shared. Both levels of government share data for the advancement and improvement of Public Policy already. Whether its in the health care arena. Whether it is in public safety. Whether, as governor jerry brown once said, for the collection of taxes. We are ready do it, so why not do it for Voter Registration . Yeah catching the same information over and over again name, address, date of birth, and a signature on file. If we are already doing this, it would make perfect sense to use it for Voter Registration like oregon did. The default will be adding you to the voter rolls. S is america and eu have and you have freedom of speech. The California Law will go into full effect next summer. May 2017. That is why the legislature signed by the governor, in the year of implementation and the training of employees, working out kinks, oregons law that went into affect are averaging 12,000 voters a month. In,. Opt out, they were averaging 4000 registrations. How is that for success . In california, lets look at the numbers more than 24 million eligible to vote. If we capture 90 of them over time, more than 6 Million People in californiaoll in the coming years. That is awesome. [applause] imagine the impact your going to have . I have been asked to share inside of the experience getting this to the legislature and some of the uniqueness about california. First, one of the sites we had to get over was, there is going to be voter fraud. Make sure going to you are not registering systematically someone who is not eligible to be a voter . We heard in california, you pass this law again, and giving driver license to undocumented individuals, this is a conspiracy. No, no, no. Yes, california does provide drivers license to the undocumented, but as they assure us, that is a siloed process. By the way, even if it other state does not provide drivers licenses for undocumented individuals, they do provide them do people like my parents. Legal, permanent residents. They are over 18. They are not citizens. So, you build it into the protocols. Firewalls have been in place for the last 20 years for motor voter. What about 16 or 17yearold to maybe citizens and have a drivers license . , noe is no barriers challenge we cant work around. We heard a concern for some immigrant Rights Groups on the half of illegal residents. We are hopeful for copperheads of Immigration Reform coming sooner rather than later. And someone is registered inadvertently, we dont want them punished later for a crime they did not commit. Government automatically register them possibly, but just in case, we wrote language into the bill, thank you brennan for your guidance on this that would put the faults on the government side, not on the individuals side so it does not create issues later. We also wanted t