Upgrading Voter Registration
Voter Registration Systems
- Election Initiatives
- Contact Stephanie Bosh 202.540.6741
- March 14, 2011
Voter registration systems are supposed to ensure access to voting while preventing fraud. Yet, America’s registration system is:
- Plagued by errors that prevented more than two million people from voting in 2008 and wasted millions of taxpayer dollars.
- Poorly designed for an increasingly mobile society in which one in eight Americans moved in 2008.
- Reliant on inefficient paper forms that often are submitted at the last minute by unregulated third-party groups.
- Unnecessarily expensive, costing taxpayers as much as 12 times more per voter than is required in Canada, where 93 percent of those eligible are registered.
The Pew Charitable Trusts is partnering with election officials, policy makers, technology experts, and other stakeholders toward a voter registration system that features:
- Greater coordination among states in order to increase accuracy and reduce costs.
- Better use of available databases, such as motor vehicle information, Social Security death records and National Change of Address information, to keep voter registration lists current.
- Access for voters to securely update records electronically in order to minimize manual data entry.
Together, Pew and its partners are building on cutting edge practices in some states and the private sector to bring voter registration systems into the 21st century and improve accuracy, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.
- Date:
- March 14, 2011
- Contact:
- Stephanie Bosh | 202.540.6741
- Project:
- Election Initiatives
- Issues:
- Election Costs, Election Technology, Online Registration, Same Day Registration
- Report:
- The Real Cost of Voter Registration, Holding Form, Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient, Upgrading Democracy, Upgrading Voter Registration Design, Online Voter Registration, Washington State 'Making Voting Work' for 18 Year-Olds, Voter Registration Data Accuracy
Our Work
-
- Report
- Election Initiatives
The Real Cost of Voter Registration
This 2009 study found that voter registration in Oregon cost more than $8.8 million* during the 2008 election, a cost of $4.11* per active registered voter or $7.67* per voter registration transaction (adding new or updating existing voter records). Using this analysis as a model, other states will be able to better estimate their registration expenses and therefore identify opportunities for reform. (*The study's data were updated in 2010.) more
-
- Q & A
- Election Initiatives
David Becker: Upgrading Voter Registration
David Becker answers questions about problems in the nation’s voter registration system and about collaboration among states to implement solutions.
more -
- Report
- Election Initiatives
Holding Form
This 2006 brief explored the user end of the registration process: how would-be voters obtain forms, complete them, and how much time they have before an election to do so.
more -
- Report
- Election Initiatives
Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient
Research in Pew's report underscores the need for registration systems that better maintain voter records, save money, and streamline processes.
more -
- Report
- Election Initiatives
Upgrading Democracy
This 2010 report argued that Americans deserve a more cost-effective, accurate and efficient registration system that protects the integrity of the process and ensures that more eligible voters—and only eligible voters—are on the rolls.
more