Linking Driving Records to Voting Records | Legislative Role

Linking Driving Records to Voter Records: It’s the Law

Federal law requires that in 44 states, motor vehicle agencies must offer citizens the opportunity to register to vote when they come in to get a driver's license. The motor vehicle offices are then required to send those registration applications to the appropriate elections agency. As the law reaches the ripe old age of 21, how’s it going? 

This webinar included faculty from The Pew Charitable Trusts and representatives from Delaware, a state that has successfully implemented a system to seamlessly transfer data between its motor vehicle office and election office. It covered:

• What does the federal National Voter Registation Act require of motor vehicle agencies?
• Is it working?
• What are state approaches to ensuring compliance with the law?
• Who benefits from improved, electronic transmission of data? 
• What actions have states taken, or are considering, to improve the link between motor vehicle agencies and voter registration? 

View Webinar

Speakers

• Elaine Manlove, state election commissioner, Delaware
• Jennifer Cohan, secretary, Department of Transportation, Delaware
• Sam Derheimer, The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Wendy Underhill, NCSL elections program manager

Additional Resources

• The Pew Charitable Trusts’ report on Measuring Motor Voter
• NCSL’s election administration newsletter The Canvass: Linking Driving and Voting Records
• The final report of the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration, issued in January 2014