Today, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that will expand opportunities for Californians to exercise what he termed the “sacred right” of casting a ballot. The legislation clears the way for California to adopt online voter registration and will eventually allow people to register to vote right up until polls close on Election Day.

Under previous California law, voters were required to register at least 15 days prior to the election, and registration was only available via traditional, paper forms. With the new less restrictive rules, California joins 10 other states that allow same-day registration and over a dozen others that have an online registration system.

The law won’t be able to affect the outcome of the 2012 contests: The Vote-Cal database that enables real-time verification of voter eligibility is not close to being up-and-running, meaning registration on Election Day “is not likely until 2014 at the earliest,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Still, the change is now officially on its way.

We’ve said many times on Reset that government works best when more voices are heard. Congratulations and thank you to Governor Brown for signing legislation that will allow more voices to be heard on Election Day.