VOTING AND ELECTIONS
Modernizing Democracy: The Power of Automatic Voter Registration
In the news, headlines about elections and voting often focus on harmful policies that create barriers to the ballot box. However, policies that actually improve our democracy, like automatic voter registration (AVR), deserve more attention.
AVR is a policy that modernizes the voter registration process by automatically registering eligible voters through their interactions with state agencies.
This commonly happens when people apply for or renew their driver’s licenses. Automatic voter registration helps ensure that every eligible voter has access to vote while strengthening the security and accuracy of our election systems.
AVR comes in two main forms:
- Secure automatic voter registration
In Secure AVR systems — sometimes referred to as “back-end AVR” — designated agencies, such as state DMVs, systematically send information from relevant transactions to state election authorities. Once the voter’s eligibility is confirmed, the voter is then automatically registered (or registered in pending status). The voter is then given a chance to opt out later, usually through the mail. - Partial automatic voter registration
Partial AVR, also referred to as “front-end AVR”, is an improvement over traditional registration systems but is relatively less efficient than Secure AVR. In Partial AVR systems, potential voters have the choice to opt-in to registration at the time of the relevant agency transaction or can choose to not be registered to vote.
Currently, 24 states and D.C. have implemented some form of AVR, representing more than half of all eligible voters. Eight states & D.C. have implemented best practice Secure AVR, with just over eleven percent of eligible voters living in these states.
Benefits of Automatic Voter Registration
AVR provides a number of benefits to democracy, both for the voter and for election administration overall:
Increased Voter Participation
Both forms of AVR have been proven to increase voter registration rates, however recent studies show that implementing back-end AVR results in significant improvement with an 8.1% increase in registration, compared to 2.9% for front-end AVR. Back-end AVR also increases turnout among eligible voters (by 3.3%, compared to 1.1% for front-end AVR).
Enhanced Election Security
By using existing government data to verify voter eligibility, AVR reduces the risk of potential errors or oversight in administering voter rolls. Secure AVR is particularly effective in this area. If an individual has already provided documents that establish their eligibility to register as part of the relevant agency transaction, this information is automatically shared with election officials. Anyone who has clearly been established as not eligible, such as non-citizens, is automatically filtered out of the system and not registered. This prevents ineligible people from unintentionally registering to vote and facing potential criminal penalties.
Cost and Efficiency
Beyond making democracy more accessible and secure, AVR also reduces the time and cost burden on election officials. This is particularly true for Secure AVR. In Secure AVR systems, the amount of paperwork is reduced, as details about voter registration do not have to be added to government agency forms. In addition, AVR can ease potential issues on Election Day by decreasing the number of voters that potentially require provisional ballots, and in turn, shortening lines at polling places.
Automatic voter registration represents a significant step towards making our democracy more accessible, secure and efficient. By reducing barriers to registration and ensuring accurate voter rolls, AVR helps to create a more inclusive and representative election system. Employing common sense in designing, adopting, and implementing AVR can help to close registration and turnout gaps across the country and in turn bolster the health of our democracy.
▸▸ Learn more
- View our Democracy Map tracking AVR policies across the U.S. here or below.
- Stay connected with Democracy Maps by subscribing to our newsletter and following our socials on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
