electionline Weekly

In Focus This Week

Report: Mass. election-day registration would boost youth, minority turnout
If approved, proposal would take effect in time for 2008 for November vote

By Dan Seligson
electionline.org

As Massachusetts lawmakers consider a bill that would allow residents to register and vote on election day, a new report suggests that allowing the option could boost turnout by more than 200,000 in the Bay State.

The report, released by Demos and prepared by two academics, Jonathan Nagler, of New York University and R.Michael Alvarez of the California Institute of Technology, predicts turnout could increase by as much as 5 percent generally and more among young voters ages 18-24, those who have recently relocated, minorities and the state’s poorest citizens.

Findings follow the state legislature’s Committee on Election Law recommended passage of the bill, S. 2514. The legislation is awaiting consideration in the state senate.

Eight states – Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming – offer EDR. If approved, Massachusetts would be the ninth state in the country – and third in New England to offer it.

The state would also be by far the most populous to do so. With nearly 6.5 million residents, Massachusetts has a million more people than Minnesota, the next most populous of the eight states that offer same-day registration and voting.

North Carolina offers same-day voting, which allows voters to register and cast in-person absentee ballots, but does not allow the practice on election day.

Without a history of convenience voting (the state offers neither no-excuse absentee voting nor in-person early voting) or support from a number of local election officials, the fate of the initiative in Massachusetts is uncertain.

Clerks in a number of cities and towns have expressed concern, with one telling a local newspaper that he thought EDR would lead “more confusion, more problems and more work for my office.”

Bob Shea, town clerk for the town of Hanover, told The Hanover Mariner that he envisioned voters registering in multiple towns and casting multiple votes. The town’s registrar of voters said it would “a disaster.”

Opposition is not universal, however. Some clerks – and the association representing them – have opted to see what develops in the legislature.

Sally Hayden, town clerk for Rutland and president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks’ Association, said she and others had to see what shape the final proposal would take.

“Hopefully if this is something that the legislature thinks Massachusetts needs, the town clerks would be behind it it as long as the regulations are there to help us to implement it,” she said. “A number of clerks in small communities have just one-person offices. [Offering EDR] at the polls would be a help to them rather than to hold registration at the town hall.”

A report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published in 2003 found that nearly 10 percent of 1.3 million registered voters in the state who did not cast ballots in 2000 reported “registration problems at the precinct” as their reason for not voting.

Demos reported that Massachusetts ranks 21st nationally in voter turnout, a position that would almost certainly improve with the implementation of EDR.

“Moving to EDR would lower [the] hurdle for thousands of citizens in Massachusetts and bring more participants into the democratic process,” the report stated.

According to a staffer for state Sen. Edward M. Augustus Jr., D-Worcester, chair of the Election Laws Committee, the legislation would allow registration at polling places rather than exclusively at town offices, addressing at least some of the concerns raised by town clerks. Newly registered voters would have their names entered into the statewide voter registration database after the election.

If approved, the measure would take effect for the November 2008 vote and again in the 2010 general election.

Unlike previous bills in the state that would have allowed no-excuse absentee voting, the EDR proposal does not require the approval of a constitutional amendment, boosting its hopes in the legislature dominated by Democratic lawmakers. Both the governor and secretary of state support EDR, as does The Boston Globe, the state’s largest newspaper, which endorsed the idea just before February’s primary election.

Massachusetts was not the only New England state debating EDR this month.

Vermont lawmakers were poised to act on an EDR bill in mid-March. The state, which allows voters to register as late as six days before an election, faced similar resistance from some town clerks. This year’s efforts appear to have been unsuccessful.

While the state senate discussed the issue and took testimony, EDR will not advance in 2008, said Kathy DeWolfe, the state’s election director.

“We don’t expect there to be any additional action this year,” she said. 

Correction: Due to an editing error, last week’s newsletter story, “As Supreme Court mulls photo ID, states consider similar bills”, should have listed Tova Wang as the co-author of a draft report submitted to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on voter fraud and voter intimidation.