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Demographics
Internet resources for what you need to know on NYC Elections and Voting
Five Favorite Sites For Beginners

The Topic
"Elections" refers to the processes through which candidates appeal to the citizenry, and the citizenry chooses who among those candidates will represent them. Also known as: the basis of democracy; a passˇ phenomenon. Near synonyms: voting, campaigns.
The Context
By and large, New Yorkers don't vote. Though the number of registered voters who turn out on election day has fluctuated, the overall trend has been downward. Fewer people voted in 1997 than in 1953, though the number of registered voters rose by more than a million (never mind how many more were eligible). In the last School Board election, a mere 3.3% of those eligible actually voted. This declining turnout has been a gradual process that has become a reality of NYC politics.
The Reporter
Jim Chapin, a New Yorker who served as a senior policy advisor to Public Advocate Mark Green, is national political analyst for United Press International. Susan Reefer is a Republican pollster and media strategist. Both are based in New York. Elizabeth Daniel is an associate counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, working on issues relating to campaign finance reform, voter choice, and ballot access
The Archives
See past monthly updates for Voting.

by Elizabeth Daniel

A Plea For Same-Day Voter Registration

(Sept '01) It's after Labor Day. You're just back (mentally or physically) from the long summer break. Political posters are lining the streets. Candidates and supporters are pushing leaflets right, left, and center at your subway stop. Now you remember ... there's an election coming. You're ready to pay attention, choose your candidates. The primary is on September 11. But wait. If you are not already registered to vote, and registered in a political party, you've missed your chance to cast a ballot in this heavily contested primary.

By state law, the voter registration books closed on August 17. This was 25 days before the primary and before many potential voters even began to pay attention to the election. You can still register to vote in the November general election; that deadline is October 12. But this provides little comfort when most of the races will be decided in the primary.

Voter registration seems relatively simple - and certainly over the past 10 or 15 years it has become much easier. You fill out a short form, mail it to the Board of Elections, and you're registered. But this extra step is likely to be one step too many for those who are less well-off, less educated, and are members of a racial or ethnic minority. Indeed, despite massive voter registration efforts for the 2000 election, 35 percent of the country's eligible citizens remained unregistered.

In the summer months preceding a primary, who is paying serious attention to the election? Who is paying the kind of attention that makes someone think, "Do I need to register to vote? What's the deadline? Where do I get the forms?"

Why should potential voters have to jump through this extra hoop? Voting is not a test of a citizen's ability to negotiate a bureaucracy. Over the years, several academic studies have shown that registration is a substantial barrier to casting a ballot and a major cause for low voter turnout in the United States. Indeed, a study by Columbia University Professor Robert S. Erikson, tellingly titled "Why Do People Vote? Because They Are Registered," demonstrated that once registered, even new voters go to the polls at very high rates.

Six states have made registration as simple as it can be. Minnesota, Maine, New Hampshire, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Wyoming allow voters to register at the polls when they arrive to cast their ballot. North Dakota abandoned registration entirely in 1951. Five of these states have the highest voter turnout in the country.

The principal argument against scrapping advance registration requirements is the threat of increased fraud. This argument does not hold up to close scrutiny. First, there is no evidence that the states with same-day registration have had a problem with voter fraud. Indeed, Maine, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have had same-day registration for more than 25 years. Second, there are remedies to protect against this risk. Some of the recommended anti-fraud measures include: requiring same-day registrants to sign an oath or affidavit, requiring adequate proof of identity and residence, requiring election day registrants to vote by paper, affidavit ballots, subject to challenge, and promptly verifying election-day registrants with a non-forwardable post card sent to their address. Centralized, computerized state registration records would also significantly protect the process against increased fraud.

Different jurisdictions have used different combinations of these anti-fraud measures depending on the needs of their state and their political culture. New York should identify which of these measures would work best in our political culture without making it more difficult for certain citizens, particularly members of a racial or ethnic minority, to vote. These tools and their successful use in other states make clear that if same-day registration does have an increased risk of fraud, which has not been shown, we have effective means to deal with it. The fear of fraud should not stifle this democratic reform.

Some opponents of same-day registration also argue that same-day registration for party primaries could trigger party-raiding that undermines the party's ability to control its selection of candidates. There is, of course, an easy solution to that complaint: if it is shown to be a problem, the state could simply prohibit those voters already registered from switching parties in the several weeks preceding the primary. Under this regime, registered voters' rights to choose and change their parties are as protected as they are now, and the parties retain some control over their choice of candidates, but a significant barrier for new voters is removed.

Recognizing that advance registration is an unnecessary restriction on the franchise and that problems with potential fraud can be solved, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and a handful of other politicians have recently called for the state to adopt same-day registration procedures, but Albany hasn't budged. Indeed, New York, and many other states, have long resisted any move toward same-day voter registration and most efforts to make registration easier. After the National Voter Registration Act (also known as the Motor Voter Act) was enacted in 1993, forcing states to ease voter registration requirements, New York was sued by the U.S. Justice Department for failing to comply with its requirements. And, almost every election year, including 2000, it is discovered that the state Department of Motor Vehicles has failed to properly process registrations submitted with driver's license applications, leaving potential voters without a ballot.

This kind of behavior is part and parcel of the last century's sad tradition of voter registration laws, which always had more to do with turning the electoral process into a game than opening democracy. But the spirit of Jim Crow in the South and the anti-immigrant laws of the North and West should be left with the past. We are in a new century, and there is no real justification for our advance registration laws. In short, the time has come for same-day registration.


Five Favorite Sites For Beginners:

  • Savvy Voter - A nonpartisan election forum and information resource for New York City voters. Find out where, when, and how to vote. Learn about and connect to political parties in New York State.
  • NYVote.com - "New York's Online Political Source"
  • The Center for Responsive Politics - The definitive site for campaign financing. Searchable databases by state and zip code allow you to learn how much candidates have raised, and who has contributed to their campaigns. Indispensable.
  • Vote NYC - The New York City Board of Elections. A simple yet thorough primer on voting. How, when, where and why to vote in New York City.
  • The NYC Voter Assistance Commission - Yet another NYC site that provides the ABC's of voting -- in Spanish, English, Korean, Russian and Greek. Voter reg forms, info on the election year calendar, registration deadlines and elected officials. Learn how to become an election day worker: promote democracy and earn some extra cash.
  • Project Vote Smart - A wonk's delight. Enter your zip code to find out who represents you. Extensive information about candidates in all levels of government. Searchable by state, with excellent state legislative links. Biographies and (largely unflattering) pics of all NY legislators. Info on ballot measures too.
  • NYC Campaign Finance Board - Information on the financial particulars of candidates and their campaigns. The searchable database on contributions is both impressive and easily accessible: who gave money to whom and how much.
  • The City Council - The indispensable road map to NYC legislators and legislative info. Find out who represents you and every other imaginable detail about the Council's workings: rules, hearings, committees, news, legislative agenda, and the list goes on. Links to all other City government sites.


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