House passes electronic voter registration bill

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky residents could register to vote on the Internet under a bill that passed the state House of Representatives on Monday.

Currently only soldiers deployed overseas and other Kentucky residents living abroad can register to vote online. But the House bill directs county clerks to create an electronic voter registration system.

Most of Kentucky’s voters register to vote through the DMV. But the Legislative Research Commission estimates about 40,000 people per year could potentially register electronically, based on statistics from the past five years.

The County Clerks Association says the new system would not save that much money because clerks would have to print out and validate any data voters submit through the Internet.

Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes has endorsed the bill, which now heads to the state Senate.