Automatic Voter Registration

Automatic (or automated) voter registration can be seen as new, or it can be seen as an updated version of processes put in place by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

That law, also known as “motor voter,” pioneered a new way of registering to vote in America. It required most states to provide citizens with an opportunity to register to vote when applying for or renewing a driver’s license.

Now, states are taking this model one step further. Instead of giving someone the choice to register at the motor vehicle agency, some states automatically register that person to vote, unless the person decides to opt-out of voter registration. 

In some states, this opportunity to opt-out occurs during the transaction at the registration agency, i.e. the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) or another agency if permitted (see Table 2 below for more details on which agencies may participate in automatic voter registration in states). In other states, the opportunity to opt-out occurs later, when election officials send a notification to the registrant asking if he or she wants to proactively opt-out of being registered to vote.

As of August 10, 2018 13 states and the District of Columbia have authorized automatic voter registration. See Table 1 below for details.

*Note that this table includes only states that self-report that they have "automatic registration."

How Automatic Voter Registration Works

Currently, voter registration in most states is an “opt in” policy, where an eligible voter chooses to fill out a voter registration application, which gets reviewed and processed before the name goes on the voter rolls. Automatic voter registration is an “opt out” policy by which an eligible voter is placed on the voter rolls at the time they interact with a motor vehicle agency (or in a few states with other government agencies) unless they actively decline to be registered.

The process begins at the motor vehicle agency. When citizens apply for, renew or replace a driver’s license, permit or identification card, their relevant information—including name, address, date of birth and signature—is shared electronically with the state election agency. That registration application is then verified for eligibility (citizenship, age and residency), compared to the information with what’s already in the statewide voter registration database and, if there is no existing registration, the person is added to the voter rolls.

States have addressed the ability of voters to opt-out of registration in different ways. In most states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, D.C., Illinois, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia) individuals will be given the opportunity to opt-out at the point of contact with the motor vehicle agency.

In Oregon, on the other hand, the person does not answer yes or no at the motor vehicle agency. Instead, the pertinent data is transmitted to the election agency and the voter is assigned a "pending" status for 21 days. During that time the election agency mails the prospective new voter a registration notification card. It is at this point the voter can opt out.

The voter can do one of three things:

• Choose a party affiliation and mail back a completed card.
• Select the option declining to be registered and mail back the postcard.
• Take no action and thus become registered as an unaffiliated voter after 21 days.

​In Alaska, voter registration is tied to a citizen's application for the permanent fund dividend (PFD). The PFD is available to Alaska residents that have lived in the state for a full calendar year and intend to stay indefinetely. The fund consists of a portion of the state oil revenue, and citizens who apply for the dividend receive a yearly payment from the fund. With the passage of Measure 1 in 2016, the PFD application also serves as a voter registration application or change of address. The Alaska Division of Elections receives new and updated registrations from the PFD applications and then sends a notice to new applicants or voters whose address on their PFD application is different than their voter record address. The mailer notifies them that the information on their PFD application will be used for voter registration purposes unless they opt-out within 30 days.

What Are the Benefits of Automatic Voter Registration?

Proponents of automatic voter registration say the policy will remove barriers to registration for eligible voters, the first step on the way to voter participation. By registering through a routine and necessary transaction, voters won’t have to worry about registration deadlines or application submissions. In a sense, they are automatically enfranchised.

Automatic registration also will lead to cleaner voter registration rolls because the process updates existing registrations with current addresses. This, in turn, will lead to more efficient elections, with the added benefit of reducing the use of costly provisional ballots, which are a fail-safe voting option when there is a discrepancy in a voter’s registration status. Some supporters also expect automatic voter registration to lead to higher voter turnout, although evidence is not available to prove this point yet.

What Are the Disadvantages of Automatic Voter Registration?

Opponents of automatic voter registration have concerns that the government should not be in the business of telling citizens what to do or that they have to be registered to vote. They may see automatic voter registration as an infringement upon the First Amendment right to free speech, particularly in states, like Oregon and Alaska, that provide the "opt-out" choice by mail, after the fact.

They question whether opt-out forms that are sent and received through the mail are sufficient to ensure an individual can decline to register. Fraud is also a concern, as some have questioned whether the process can adequately filter out noncitizens who are able to obtain state identification cards legally.

Additional Resources

• NCSL Legisbrief “Registering Voters Automatically”
• Oregon Motor Voter FAQ
• The Pew Charitable Trusts: Inaccurate, Costly and Inefficient
• The Pew Charitable Trusts: Measuring Motor Voter
• The Heritage Foundation: Mandatory Voter Registration: How Universal Registration Threatens Electoral Integrity