Business, Government Legal News from throughout WVOfficials: Same-Day Voter Registration Increases Participation

Officials: Same-Day Voter Registration Increases Participation

Same-day voter registration could become a reality in the Mountain State.

Representatives from North Carolina joined Steven Carbo of Demos, a nonpartisan organization that focuses on national issues, in testifying before the West Virginia Legislature's Judiciary Subcommittee C Jan. 9 to talk about same-day voter registration. Nine states, including North Carolina, currently have a same-day voter registration system in place, and Carbo said those states have seen a dramatic increase in voter participation.

"We have historically seen voter participation in same-day states 10 to 12 points higher than in non-same-day states," Carbo said.  

The system varies from state to state, but mostly it allows voters to register at a polling place the same day as the election by providing identification and proof of residency. After registering, the newly registered voter can cast a ballot that same day. Carbo said this system decreases the number of provisional ballots, which aren't always counted. In 2008, provisional ballots in North Carolina decreased by 40,000 compared to the 2006 midterm election, he said.

Provisional ballots and the need for same-day registration stem from what Carbo called America's highly mobile population. Because of jobs, moving around or school, much of American's 25 million voting-age population cannot or does not register, and if they are, most cast provisional ballots. As a result, poll workers find themselves swamped during the canvassing period.

Sharon Lewis, deputy director of the Carteret County Board of Directors in North Carolina, said her county had 1,000 provisional ballots in 2004, but fewer than half of those votes counted. Now that her state has implemented same-day registration, the number of provisional ballots has dropped to 400. Carteret County has 48,000 registered voters.

Several delegates expressed concerns over same-day registration and how county clerks can verify potential voters' identities and addresses on the same day they register without compromising election results. Jason Perry, director of the Stokes County, N.C., Board of Elections, said how his department handles such matters is in the state code. Carbo said states with same-day registration have not reported many cases of voter fraud.

"The record is clear about the lack of voter fraud," he said. "It's cost-effective and does not undermine the integrity of the vote."

Lewis cautioned the committee that if it wants to implement same-day registration, it needs to plan ahead.

"I'm not going to wait until April to be ready," she said. "Hopefully we'll be ready within the next month when filing ends."

She went on to say that elections must change with the times.

"You have to realize that times have changed," she said. "Some people work eight hours each day, some work 10, and some work out of town. There are a lot of reasons in-person registration is better for the public."