Getting Registration Right
APRIL 2008
Getting Registration Right
Spurred by high interest in the 2008 election, officials in states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Oregon are reporting record or near-record numbers of voters on the rolls. Recently, the integrity and operability of these lists has been the focus of both a task force of the National Academies of Sciences and a hearing by the Senate Rules Committee.
Featured Resources
On April 6 and 7, 2006, scholars and policymakers met in Princeton, New Jersey, to discuss the implementation of the Help America Vote Act, as well as the Voting Rights Act and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
This website, produced by the National Association of Secretaries of State, provides information for voters on determining if they are registered, the location of their polling place, and identification requirements for voting, as well other information related to participating in elections.
Representatives from voter registration agencies, state boards of elections, voter registration organizations testified before the EAC on the efficacy of the NVRA.
Berinsky concludes, contrary to popular opinion, that electoral reforms that ease restrictions on casting ballots in fact increase socioeconomic biases in the composition of the voting public. He advocates shifting the focus of electoral reform from institutional changes to political engagement
Research Projects
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.
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.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
www.aei.org
The Brookings Institution
www.brookings.edu
© Copyright 2006, AEI
and The Brookings Institution