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Election Day Registration: Best Practices (PDF)
With states implementing the statewide voter registration databases mandated by the Help America Vote Act and record numbers of new voters choosing to participate in 2008, voter registration issues received significant public and media attention both before and after Election Day. Many reformers have advocated making the registration process easier, and a new report from Dēmos outlines best practices for one proposal aimed at achieving this goal: Election Day Registration.

Read the report here (PDF).
Featured Resources
The Committee to Modernize Voter Registration, composed of former state and federal lawmakers, state election administrators, election law experts, and academics was recently formed to advocate for an automated, transferable system to replace today's out-of-date and patchwork system.
Under the Voting Rights Act, any state-level change to voter registration rules must be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. Georgia’s proposed VoteSafe program, designed to keep private the addresses of victims of domestic violence, was approved by the Department of Justice.
Convened to provide guidance to the state of Utah in the areas of election law, the Commission made recommendations regarding voter registration. Joining a number of other groups in proposing automatic voter registration, the Commission adopted all of its recommendations unanimously.
In this analysis, the Election Reform Project’s Molly Reynolds looks at what responses from a 2008 survey can tell us about what the public prefers in terms of election reform proposals—and the limits of relying on such data in this particular area.
Studies on college campuses demonstrate that face-to-face interactions, rather than direct mail or e-mail contact prove to be the more effective method of registration for voters, especially those who are most likely not to vote.
Research Projects
electionline.org provides daily news updates on election reform issues, as well as deeper analysis of selected topics, including recent reports on voter registration, recount procedures, and the progress in implementing the Help America Vote Act since 2002.
Dēmos is a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization founded in 2000. A multi-issue national organization, Dēmoscombines research, policy development, and advocacy to influence public debates and catalyze change.
Center for Democracy & Election Management was established at the School of Public Affairs at American University in 2002. Their broader goal is to pave the way for and strengthen democracy through improved electoral performance.
Project Vote is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) that works to empower, educate, and mobilize low-income, minority, youth, and other marginalized and under-represented voters.
Election Law @ Moritz, run through Moritz College of Law at the Ohio State University, contains both explanation and commentary on a wealth of election reform issues from a legal perspective.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
www.aei.org
The Brookings Institution
www.brookings.edu
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