Like many families throughout California, community building, exercising our right to vote, and fighting for our freedoms were cornerstones in my upbringing. In addition to being proud of living in a culturally rich state with exceptional weather, we Californians pride ourselves in a legacy of community engagement and public discourse.
What makes us truly Californian is leading the nation in the fight for racial justice such as ending discrimination at the ballot box.
At a young age, my mom and aunt instilled in me the importance of community building and organizing. Both of them moved to the U.S. seeking economic freedom and leaving behind unhealthy relationships.
In Mexico, my mother struggled to make ends meet and became involved with grassroots campaigns to build economic power for working-class communities. She continued the fight for better wages and working conditions while working as a janitor after we moved to San Diego.
Guided by the valiant and nurturing leadership of my mom and aunt, I’m continuing the fight for a fairer future for all. It was through my work advocating for opportunities for working-class communities that I learned that more than 4.6 million eligible voters in California are still not registered to vote, a group that is disproportionately working-class Black, Latino, and Asian American voters.
California has made significant strides toward protecting voter rights in recent decades, but it wasn’t always this way. In fact, California’s exclusionary voting practices have persisted since it became a state, according to a report by UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy. California discouraged voting by withholding citizenship to Chinese immigrants, requiring literacy tests for all voters at the ballot box, and introducing a variety of poll taxes disproportionately affecting workers, immigrants and infrequent voters.
These barriers persist to this day, as many working-class people of color can’t afford to take the time away from work or their daily responsibilities to register themselves to vote.
In spite of attempts to improve voter access, the burden of registration still remains on the individual, and we need more action from our lawmakers to address decades of disenfranchisement. That’s why a broad coalition of 150 grassroots and statewide organizations is supporting Senate Bill 299 that would empower the Secretary of State to add millions of voters who come from communities like mine to the voter rolls.
Similar laws have been passed in Alaska, Colorado, DC, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. Registration and turnout among eligible voters has increased significantly in these states.
Authored by state Senators Monique Limón and Caroline Menjivar, SB 299 would be a huge step towards removing barriers to the ballot box for single working-class mothers, fathers working multiple jobs, and young gig economy workers. The bill would enable the DMV to share a list of “pre-approved” voters (even if a person doesn’t affirmatively register to vote at the DMV) with the Secretary of State, who in turn could register millions of eligible Californians.
State legislators must now act swiftly to pass SB 299 to meet the legislative deadline before heading to the Governor’s desk.
The voter registration system proposed by SB 299 has been proven to be efficient at registering eligible voters, keeping records accurate and ensuring that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote. In fact, SB 299 would strengthen vital protections for non-citizens who mistakenly register to vote.
Although rare incidents occur, the state’s current system puts non-citizens in jeopardy of significant legal consequences by failing to filter out ineligible voters from voter rolls. SB 299 would fix this. Simply put: none of the states that have this voter registration system have reported any erroneous registrations of ineligible voters.
I’m proud to continue the legacy of the strong women in my family and the generations of women of color that fought to ensure that all eligible voters are able to exercise this right. I’m looking forward to voting once I become a naturalized U.S. citizen. When the time comes for me to register to vote, I’m hoping our system is updated to be more inclusive, efficient and safer as proposed by SB 299.
Itzel Maganda Chavez works as the civic engagement director at Alliance San Diego and lives in Golden Hill.
