With the technological advances in modern society, life has grown more convenient. It has come to be something people expect, and voting is the same way. Thus, Same-Day Voting Registration (“SDR”) and Election Day Registration (“EDR”) were established. EDR and SDR allow for people to register and vote in a single action, producing a more convenient voting scheme.1

As of June 2024, twenty-three states and the District of Columbia allow SDR, which allows voters to both register and vote at the same time.2 Further, twenty states and the District of Columbia allow EDR, which allows voters to register and vote on Election Day.3 These states adopted SDR and EDR to increase voter turnout by decreasing the amount of actions needed to vote.4 While these convenient voting systems offer benefits, they also carry the potential for negative side effects. The question is whether the convenience of EDR and SDR outweighs the potential negative side effects.

The argument for EDR and SDR is that these systems increase voter turnout because of the convenient and efficient process. In 2008, twelve states permitted some form of SDR.5 One of those states, North Carolina, saw an increase of 8% from 2004 to 2008.6 Further, in a study conducted on EDR states, there was an increase of about 4% to 6% in overall voter turnout.7 Therefore, SDR and EDR do increase voter turnout by roughly twenty to twenty-six million people.8 This increase of voter turnout could produce more accurate results because the elections will survey more of the population.

Similarly, some research reports suggest that registration and voter turnout were higher on average in EDR and SDR states compared to non-EDR/SDR states.9 For example, 77.3% of the eligible population was registered to vote in non-EDR/SDR states while 88.8% of the eligible population was registered in EDR/SDR states.10 Furthermore, in EDR and SDR states, 65.6% of registered voters turned out while only 50.5% of registered voters actually cast their ballot in non-EDR/SDR states.11 That is a 15% increase in registered voter turnout. These results are contributed to the convivence factor of showing up at the polling centers to register and vote instead of figuring out weeks before the election where to register, working through the requirements, and filling out the application materials.12 The numbers align with the theory that the more convenient voting schemes produce more voters on Election Days.

Conversely, SDR and EDR can leave the voting system vulnerable to fraud, error, and overwhelming administrative burdens. The EDR and SDR voting process become accelerated which leads to errors and opens the door to fraud. For example, in Wisconsin, a federal investigation showed clerical errors, poll worker shortages, and incompetence within the polling centers due to SDR and EDR.13 In North Carolina, counties were unable to verify registration cards, which allowed for duplicate votes and by the time the error was caught, it was too late.14 This is contributed to the way SDR and EDR are set up where one could theoretically vote early in one county, then vote in neighboring counties because of the long processing time.15 In Michigan, a SDR state, almost every county with over 50,000 people has a registration rate of 100 percent, hinting at there being more votes than people registered.16 These errors can be contributed to the overload of voter turnout in SDR and EDR states.

SDR and EDR not only lead to error and potential fraud but also increases the admirative burden on poll workers. One reason for the increase of administrative burden is EDR and SDR make it difficult to estimate ballot turnout, which makes it hard to estimate workers needed at each polling station.17 If underestimated, the influx of EDR voters could lead to more error, duplicates, ineffective identification verification, and fraudulent voting.18 Further, there is a shortage of poll workers to verify each EDR/SDR voter. States, such as Nebraska, resort to drafting people to meet the polling needs. Poll workers in these states expressed they are overwhelmed by the amount of work on election day.19 The administrative burden and the lack of poll workers could lead to more inaccurate results or the potential for fraud in EDR and SDR states.

Voting turnout has always been a problem, especially for the younger generations. SDR and EDR seem to be a solution for that problem. SDR and EDR make it convenient for voters because instead of multiple actions to vote, EDR and SDR only require one action. On its face, the numbers show an increase of turnout, but these systems can leave the door open for a slew of problems. Thus, although

SDR and EDR might lead to more accurate results as voter turnout improves, the present system opens the door to voter fraud and more mistakes. With voter fraud on the forefront of people’s mind after the 2020 election, it seems SDR and EDR has opened the door to more problems than they have solved.

References:

1 Barry C. Burden, ET AL., The Effects and Costs of Early Voting, Election Day Registration, and Same Day Registration in the 2008 Elections (2009).

2 Same-Day Voter Registration, Nat’l Conf. of State Legislators (Oct. 25, 2011), https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/same-day-voter-registration.

3 Id.

4 Barry C. Burden, ET AL., supra note 1.

5 Id.

6 Id.

7 Craig L. Brians & Bernard Grofman, Election Day Registration’s Effect on U.S. Voter Turnout, in Social Science Quarterly Vol 82, 170, 170 (2001).

8 Aaron O’Neill, Voting populations and number of votes case in U.S. presidential elections from 1824 to 2020, Statista (Jul. 4, 2024), https://www.statista.com/statistics/1139763/number-votes-cast-us-presidential-elections/.

9 R. Michael Alvarez, ET AL., Election Day Voter Registration in the United States How One-Step Voting Can Change the Composition of the American Electorate, caltech/mit voting technology project (2002).

10 Id.

11 Id.

12 Id.

13 Lorraine Minnite, Election Day Registration: A Study of Voter Fraud Allegations and Findings on Voter Roll Security, Demos: A Network For Ideas & Action

14 Anna Pingel, The Pitfalls of Same-Day Registration, AFPI (Feb. 26, 2024) https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/the-pitfalls-of-same-day-registration.

15 Id.

16 Id.

17 Id.

18 Id.

19 Id.