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Election Day Voter Registration in Iowa | Same Day Voter Registration in North Carolina

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Expanding Civic Engagement | Felon Disfranchisement | Modernizing Voter Registration | National Voter Registration Act | Same Day Registration/Election Day Registration | Voter Registration

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November 5, 2009

Same Day Voter Registration Among Key Reforms in DC Election Reform Bill

Washington, DC--As Americans went to the polls this week to vote in critical state and local elections, the Council of the District of Columbia displayed national leadership on election reform and voting rights by passing sweeping election reform legislation.

The Omnibus Election Reform Act contains many crucial voter-friendly reforms: It will allow people to register and vote on Election Day, and to register to vote at the DC Department of Corrections and the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. It also calls on the District to study the feasibility of automatic registration of all eligible voters--the gold standard of voter registration modernization. These and other provisions of the new law can help boost voter turnout in the District, which placed among the 15 states with the lowest voting rates in the 2008 presidential election.

Miles Rapoport, President of Demos, which has advanced Same Day Registration policy for almost a decade, issued the following statement of support for the legislation, congratulating the lead sponsor Council Member Mary Cheh for her leadership on this bill:

The Council's legislation puts into place several critical reforms that will help reverse years of low voter participation rates, and bring more of the District's citizens in touch with their democracy.

Allowing citizens to register and vote at their polling station on the same day, known as Same Day Registration or SDR in the nine states where it is currently in place, helps directly increase voter participation and limits the need for provisional ballots. In the 2008 presidential election, the number of citizens voting in SDR states was on average 7 percent higher than in non-SDR states. The five states with the highest voter turnout were all SDR states. Additionally, provisional balloting, which has been the cause of much confusion and frustration at the polls, declined sharply in the two newest SDR states--Iowa and North Carolina. In 2008 DC processed approximately 15,000 provisional ballots. We can anticipate a significant reduction in provisional balloting in the District by next presidential election.

We are especially pleased to see the District of Columbia designate the Departments of Corrections and the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services as 'voter registration agencies' pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. As a result these agencies will be required to offer registration opportunities to individuals they serve who are eligible to vote. This measure will encourage a population that is often excluded from the political process to become engaged.

With the adoption of this proposal DC becomes a national leader for election reform. It is the first locality to adopt Same Day Registration for municipal elections. The designation of the Departments of Corrections and the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services as voter registration agencies also makes the District a leader in expanding the reach of the National Voter Registration Act. The results of the automatic voter registration feasibility study, in addition, can help lay a foundation for this ground-breaking reform nationally.

We applaud Council Member Mary Cheh and her colleagues on the Council of the District of Columbia for their forward-looking action on behalf of Washington, DC, voters, and encourage states around the country and the Congress to look closely at similar reform options. Senator Russ Feingold and Representative Keith Ellison introduced Same Day Registration legislation in Congress just last week.

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