Renewing Your License? Why Not Register to Vote At the Same Time?
No one really wants to go to the BMV...
It's a fact of life that sometimes you will have to enter an office of Maine's Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Normally, when you hear someone say they're heading into the BMV, it's followed by any number of borderline hateful phrases, most of which aren't fit to print here in any way.
But I've always said, if we have to go, at least they could make it possible for us to double up on some of the things we have to do there. Like getting or renewing your driver's license and registering to vote. In the past, you would've had to do those things separately. Not anymore...
It was pointlessly convoluted before.
In the before times, you'd have to fill out a voter registration card at the BMV, and then it would go to a central location, where it would then be sorted, and that card would be sent to the municipality you were registering in. Now it's going to be much more of a "one-stop-shopping" kind of experience.
According to the Maine Beacon, it will also enable 16 & 17 year olds the opportunity to pre-register. When they turn 18 and renew their license, they'll be automatically in the system and just need to activate their status.
Now, if you're nowhere near a time when you'd need to do any business at the BMV, you can still register the old-fashioned way at your town office. You also still do it right at the polls on Election Day. Lord knows, not everyone will be thrilled with this new idea, but hey... You win some, you suffer through some, right?