Covered California mandates agents must assist consumers with registering to vote.
The Covered California Board adopted regulations at their September 2014 board meeting that will mandate that Certified Enrollment Counselors and Certified Insurance Agents must assist consumers enrolling in health plans to register to vote through the Secretary of States voter registration web page. Download the full adopted regulations at the end of the post.
(b) When an Assister or CIA facilitates a covered transaction in person, as soon as CalHEERS has been programmed to display the voter preference form and allows an Applicant to answer questions related to voter registration, the Assister or CIA shall provide the Applicant the following voter registration services:
(1) For Applicants submitting an electronic covered transaction through CalHEERS, the Assister shall do the following when the voter preference form is displayed in CalHEERS:
(A) Ask the Applicant, If you are not registered to vote where you live now, would you like to apply to register to vote here today?
(B) Read aloud or allow the Applicant to read the Important Notices section of the vote preference form.
(i) If the Applicant selects the Yes option indicating that the Applicant would like to register to vote, the Assister or CIA shall mark the response on the online voter preference form, and shall provide assistance filling out the online voter registration form on the Secretary of States website, unless such assistance is declined by the Applicant.
Complying with Motor Voter law
Voter registration assistance regulations are an attempt to comply with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and Health and Human Services Department (HHS) guidance with implementing voter registration through state and federal exchanges. From the Office of Family Assistance under HHS
TANF-ACF-IM-2011-03 (The National Voter Registration Act of 1993)
Section 5 of the Act requires States to provide individuals with the opportunity to register to vote at the same time that they apply for a driver’s license or renew a driver’s license, and requires the State to forward the completed application to the appropriate State and local election official.
Section 6 of the Act provides that individuals can register to vote by mail using mail-in forms developed by each State or the Federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The Federal form is available on the EACs web site at: http://www.eac.gov/voter_resources/register_to_vote.aspx .
Section 7 of the Act requires States to offer voter registration to all offices that provide public assistance and all offices that administer State-funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities.Each applicant for any of these services, renewal of services, or address changes must be provided with a voter registration form and a declination form as well as assistance in completing the form and forwarding the application to the appropriate State or local election official. States must also provide the same level of assistance to all applicants in completing voter-registration application forms as is provided with respect to every other service or application for benefits (unless the applicant specifically refuses such assistance). Many Section 7 designated agencies/offices routinely provide services/assistance such as application for, or renewal of, services or change-of-address notifications through the internet, by telephone, or by mail. States should ensure the availability of voter-registration opportunities to individuals using such remote service/assistance opportunities from designated agencies. Thus, for all such internet transactions, States should advise of the opportunity to register to vote, and should provide some online capability to download or request a voter-registration form. Further, when upgrading technology related to the application/recertification/change of address process at Section 7 agencies, States should ensure that such upgrade includes the voter registration process.
While this specific guidance may have been updated, the intent seems to be that state or county department personnel are those individuals tasked with providing voter registration assistance, not necessarily independent counselors or agents that are not employed by governmental entity.
Should agents register voters?
If, as a Certified Insurance Agent, you are uncomfortable with the new regulations specifying that you must assist consumers with registering to vote, you can write the Covered California Board members at
Covered California P.O. Box 989725 West Sacramento, CA 95798-9725
Or attend the next board meeting and voice your position publicly.
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