The Washington D.C. City Council unanimously approved the Omnibus Election Reform Act of 2009 on October 6. If given final approval at the council’s next meeting, this landmark piece of legislation will usher in a wave of significant improvements to the District’s voting and registration rules to bring more residents into the political process, and will commission a study of automatic voter registration for all eligible voters.

The bill includes other FairVote-backed reforms like pre-registration for 16 and 17-year-olds, primary voting for 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the general election, and provisions for early voting and Election Day registration, all of which are measures outlined by FairVote’ testimony before the council and in an op-ed by FairVote’s Adam Fogel in the Washington Post.

Links

•    Adam Fogel testimony
•    Rob Richie testimony
•    Adam Fogel Washington Post op-ed: Making the District More of a Democracy
•    The Post's report on the election reform bill.