Hillary Clinton calls for automatic, universal voter registration for everyone aged 18

(Image credit: Ethan Miler/Getty Images)

published 4 June 2015

In a speech in Houston, Texas, Hillary Clinton on Thursday made one of the boldest proposals of her young presidential campaign, calling for automatic, universal voter registration for all citizens when they turn 18. The proposal is part of a push to increase access to the polls in the face of Republican efforts at the state level to limit such access in the name of reducing voter fraud, which critics say is a thinly veiled campaign to prevent largely Democratic supporters from voting.

As Clinton said in her speech, "What is happening is a sweeping effort to disenfranchise and disempower people of color, poor people, and young people."