The new system, set to roll out Sept. 22, will allow prospective voters to register through a Secretary of State secure website. The applicant’s driver’s license signature from the Department of Motor Vehicles will be used to verify the registration, creating a simple online sign up that will make registration easier, faster and far more accessible than in-person registration.

The modernized process recognizes a cultural change -- in the words of Sen. Adam Morfield, “We have a much more mobile population” -- and should also resonate with students and young professionals who have grown up doing everything online.

With its implementation, Nebraska will join more than 20 other states that have online registration. But it has taken a good while for the system to be adopted here.

Nebraskans for Civic Reform has been urging the state to adopt the online registration since 2008. It was introduced as a legislative bill in 2010, introduced again in 2011 and finally passed in the form of Sen. Bob Krist's LB661 in 2014.

It has been a long road to having online voter registration, given the past opposition by the secretary of state," said Nebraskans for Civic Reform’s Director of Voting Rights Bri McLarty. Last year, Secretary of State John Gale spoke in favor of the bill at its legislative committee hearing.

Other pluses for the new system: it will enable more accurate record keeping while decreasing administrative costs.

Most importantly the online system should increase registration and, thereby, voter turnout, starting in with the May 2016 primary election.

Nebraska’s voter turnout increased to 67 percent in the 2012 general election, up by 4 percent from 2004. If online registration delivers, it could push that number above 70 percent, which can only be a positive for democracy at every level.