Poor implementation of the National Voter Registration Act could mean problems at the polls, wrote Martha T. Moore at USA Today.
“Poor implementation of the National Voter Registration Act, the 21-year-old law that requires motor vehicle offices to register voters, is emerging as a problem when almost every aspect of voting is coming under scrutiny, either because of controversial voter identification laws or long lines at the polls,” wrote Moore. “The bipartisan commission formed by President Obama to investigate long voting lines in the 2012 election called the motor voter law ‘the election statute most often ignored.’ Motor vehicle departments ‘are supposed to play the most important registration role,’ the commission said. Instead, they ‘are the weakest link in the system. … Some DMVs appear to disregard the law.'”
Noncompliance with the law leads to inaccurate voter registration, which contributes to long lines on Election Day.
Some of the issues with voter registration at motor vehicle offices relate to outdated technology, substandard employee training, faulty record-keeping, and lack of interest among leadership, wrote Moore.
Project Vote and other voting rights groups have focused on implementation of the NVRA at public assistance offices, but now may pay equal attention to motor vehicle registration as the issue comes to light.
“We’ve begun to get pretty interested in them,” Project Vote legislative director, Estelle Rogers told Moore. “Our old complacency about how well it works at the driver’s license agency…I don’t say that sentence so much anymore.”
Photo by Steve Lyon via Creative Commons.