Secretary of State John Merrill announces electronic voter registration platform

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said Monday that the state’s new online voter registration platform went live Jan. 22 and has been used by more than 7,500 residents.

The online platform wasn’t unveiled until Monday’s news conference to allow officials to check the website is functioning properly.

More than 140 people registered to vote on the website’s first day in action and more than 1,000 had registered between midnight Sunday and 10:30 a.m. Monday.

“One of the most fundamental rights we as Americans are afforded is our right to vote,” Merrill said in a news release. “It is incumbent upon us as election officials to leverage technology wherever we can to facilitate the voting process. We want every eligible Alabamian to be afforded the right to vote, as well as participate in the electoral process, and the new implementation of Electronic Voter Registration will allow them to do so.”

Through the Secretary of State’s website, residents can now register to vote for the first time or update their voter registration information within minutes.

The new registration platform was designed to be simple and verifies all relevant information before passing the prospective voter’s information to county registrars, where it is double-checked before being approved.

Merrill noted the new system is designed to “make it easy to vote and real hard to cheat.”

Alabama joins 31 other states and the District of Columbia in now offering digital voter registration.

“This is certainly a historic day in Alabama, and as long as I have the privilege to serve our citizens as their Secretary of State, I will do everything within my power to ensure all eligible Alabamians are able to exercise their right to vote,” Merrill said.

The last day to register for the March 1 primary via electronic registration is Feb. 15.