Civil rights groups want voter registration for Obamacare enrollees

By Paige Winfield Cunningham, Paige Winfield Cunningham

Published December 20, 2015

Leading civil rights groups say the Obama administration is breaking a 1993 law by not providing voter registration through the Obamacare health insurance marketplaces.

On the eve of the healthcare law's third enrollment season, the American Civil Liberties Union and nearly two dozen other groups are asking the administration to include a feature on healthcare.gov that allows Americans shopping to health plans to register to vote.

"We are concerned about the failure of the health benefit exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act to comply with existing federal law requiring public assistance agencies to provide opportunities for potential voters to register," the groups said in a statement issued Friday.

The 1993 National Voter Registration Act requires state governments to offer voter registration to any person who applies for a driver's license or public assistance. The ACLU and other groups say the law applies to the federal marketplace set up under the healthcare law providing subsidized plans to low-income Americans.