Impact of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 on the Administration of Elections for Federal Office, 2009-2010

摘要

This report to the United States Congress addresses the impact of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 on the administration of elections for Federal office during the two-year period following the November 2008 elections through the November 2010 elections. The 2010 report is based on the results of a survey of all States, the District of Columbia, and two territories American Samoa and Guam. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands did not respond to the survey. As with past reports, responses from many States and territories varied significantly; six States and all territories are exempt from the provisions of the NVRA2 and other States did not collect voter registration data in a way that was compatible with a few of the survey questions. Jurisdictions in a few States faced challenges in collecting the data, hampering the States abilities to provide complete data for all jurisdictions. The survey shows that the number of registered voters decreased during the two years leading up to the 2010 elections after the strong surge in voter registration that occurred prior to the 2008 Presidential election. There were approximately 186.9 million total eligible and registered voters reported for the November 2010 elections, a decrease of nearly 3.6 million registered voters from the 2008 elections. Puerto Rico, however, did not hold Federal elections in 2010. As such, the lack of reported registration data from Puerto Rico in 2010 somewhat exaggerates the drop in the number of registered voters from 2008 to 2010. There were only approximately 1.1 million fewer registered voters reported for the 2010 elections than for the 2008 elections when excluding Puerto Rico from the 2008 totals. Despite this decrease since 2008, the number of registered voters in 2010 represents an increase of more than 14 million voters since the last midterm elections held in 2006. According to the responses to the survey and population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, 85.9 percent of American citizens of voting age (18 years or older) were registered to vote in the 2010 elections. A number of States report dramatic increases in active registrants compared to the previous midterm election held in 2006. Since the previous midterm election, 14 States reported an increase of over 10 percent in the number of active registrants, and two States, Arizona and New Mexico, indicated an increase of over 20 percent.