According to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesman Brian Cook, applications in the insurance marketplace must include the offer of voter registration because the law “requires states to offer voter registration [at] all offices that provide ‘public assistance’ (including Medicaid applications). Because people applying on healthcare.gov could be eligible for either Medicaid or Marketplace coverage, we will be providing info on voter registration to people who request it.”

Could this give Democrats a political advantage? Potentially, since they stand to benefit the most from a surge in voter registration among those who currently lack insurance. By more than a 2 to 1 ratio, uninsured Americans supported Barack Obama over Republican Mitt Romney in a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll last summer (62 to 27 percent). Obama led by a smaller eight-point margin among those who have health insurance. African Americans and Hispanics make up roughly half of the nation’s uninsured, a factor that explains much of the political divide.