New Pew Center on the State report, Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient, shows the need to modernize our voter registration system to “better maintain voter records, save money, and streamline processes.” With millions of inaccurate registrations, this report exemplifies the need to update America’s voter registration system. The report says approximately 24 million registrations are invalid or inaccurate due to voters moving, clerical errors, or death. Fifty-one million eligible citizens are not registered to vote at all.
“Voter registration is the gateway to participating in our democracy, but these antiquated, paper-based systems are plagued with errors and inefficiencies,” said David Becker, director of Election Initiatives at the Pew Center on the States in a press release today. “These problems waste taxpayer dollars, undermine voter confidence, and fuel partisan disputes over the integrity of our elections.”
Instead of erecting barriers to democracy, as we saw in 2011 and again in this election year, we should focus on utilizing existing technology to improve the quality of our voter rolls and ensure every citizen has the opportunity to participate in democracy. Paperless registration at government agencies and streamlining states’ list maintenance procedures are a just couple of simple ways to improve the state of our voter registration rolls.
“Today’s report proves that our nation’s ramshackle voter registration system does not work for 21st century America. In 2008, 2.2 million votes were lost because of registration problems. It is time to harness new technology to modernize our voter registration system,” said Wendy Weiser and Lawrence Norden of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program in a statement today.
“Our current system makes citizens take the first step to register to vote, but typically cuts off registration just when public interest in an election is peaking,” said Bob Kengle, co-director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s Voting Rights Project.
“The technology exists for an accurate and secure registration system that encourages all Americans to participate in our democracy,” he said. “All we need is a commitment from our leaders to make it happen.”