Resources

In 2016, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) provided a report to congress in which they provide a literature review and outline election officials regarding issues with registering voters and administering elections. Through this study, the GAO found that the benefits of collecting and sharing voter registration information electronically included improved accuracy and cost savings; while challenges included upfront investments and ongoing maintenance, among other things.

The analysis found that insufficient data exist to determine whether citizens are successfully and regularly offered these voter registration opportunities.

This brief provides a summary of the survey's major findings in five areas—cost, implementation, voter convenience, system management, and online security—and then examines ways in which these states would like to improve online voter registration.

This report finds that from 2008 to 2012, ERIC states: Increased their new-voter registration rates by 1.14 percentage points, compared with just 0.27 points in non-ERIC states. Experienced a 3.39-point decrease in the rate of individuals citing registration problems as their reason for not voting, compared with a 0.57-point decline in non-ERIC states. Had an increase of just 0.10 percentage points in the use of provisional ballots—which are often issued to voters with problematic registration status; in non-ERIC states, the use of these ballots grew by 0.36 points.

Research commissioned by the Pew Center on the States highlights the extent of the challenge of maintaining voter lists: Approximately 24 million—one of every eight—voter registrations in the United States are no longer valid or are significantly inaccurate. More than 1.8 million deceased individuals are listed as voters. Approximately 2.75 million people have registrations in more than one state. Meanwhile, researchers estimate at least 51 million eligible U.S. citizens are unregistered, or more than 24 percent of the eligible population.

This March 2010 report provided a comprehensive examination of the implementation, operation, public confidence and usage of online voter registration in Arizona and Washington

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).

This report reviews the underperformance of the current voter registration system and recommends a 21st century, data-driven registration system.