Practice-Oriented Research to Improve Voter Registration and List Maintenance

Maintaining secure, accurate, and accessible voter registration rolls is an ongoing challenge that has come under increased political scrutiny in recent years.  

The challenges in maintaining voter rolls are rooted in a variety of factors that, to a large extent, distinguish the United States from peer democracies. Among these are high degrees of population mobility, decentralization of election administration, and deeply held attitudes about privacy. Within this larger context, Americans hold divergent opinions and values on many issues that inform voter registration policy, and these divergent opinions often map onto partisan and ideological commitments. These divergent opinions interact with the broader context to create a policy landscape that varies across states and an administrative environment that can also vary within states. Policies and practices also vary across time.

This program aims to inform practitioners and policymakers about current issues and close practice gaps.  It is also aimed at achieving immediate impact, meaning examining practices that could be easily anticipated to be implemented widely in a short period of time, or elucidating issues that are currently before policymakers and/or the public.