Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:02:58.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Getting on the Rolls: Analyzing the Effects of Lowered Barriers on Voter Registration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Cynthia Rugeley  and
Robert A. Jackson
Cynthia Rugeley
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University
Robert A. Jackson
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

States and the federal government have initiated reforms designed to increase voting participation. Research has focused on the effects of these reforms—specifically, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA)—on voter turnout, but little research has focused directly on voter registration. Moving beyond the question of whether the NVRA increased registration, we ask: Did its implementation diminish the influence of core demographic variables on registration, producing a more representative pool of registered citizens? Relying on data from Current Population Surveys, our analyses provide limited affirmative support. The NVRA attenuated the influence of income in the states with no previous Motor Voter laws. It also reduced the on-year influence of age and the off-year influence of residential stability in these states and those that had prior passive Motor Voter laws. It did not have a similar effect on the influence of other core characteristics.

Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , Spring 2009 , pp. 56 - 78
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berinsky, Adam J. 2005. “The Perverse Consequences of Electoral Reform in the United States.” American Politics Research 33:471–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brians, Craig Leonard, and Grofman, Bernard. 1999. “When Registration Barriers Fall, Who Votes? An Empirical Test of a Rational Choice Model.” Public Choice 99:161–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Robert D., and Wedeking, Justin. 2006. “People Who Have Their Tickets But Do Not Use Them: ‘Motor Voter,‘ Registration, and Turnout Revisited.” American Politics Research 34:479–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, Thomas D., and Campbell, Donald. 1979. Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Council of State Governments. 1989, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005. The Book of the States. Lexington, KY: Council of State Governments.Google Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York, NY: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S. 1981. “Why Do People Vote? Because They Are Registered.” American Politics Quarterly 9:259–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Federal Election Commission. 2001. The Impact of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 on the Administration of Elections for Federal Office 1999–2000. A Report to the 107th Congress. June 21, 2001.Google Scholar
Highton, Benjamin. 2004. “Registration and Voting in the United States.” Perspectives on Politics 2:507–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Highton, Benjamin, and Wolfinger, Raymond E.. 1998. “Estimating the Effects of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.” Political Behavior 20:79–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, David. 2003. “A Two-step Approach to Assessing the Composition Effect of the National Voter Registration Act.” Electoral Studies 22:703–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackman, Robert W. 1987. “Political Institutions and Voter Turnout in the Industrial Democracies.” American Political Science Review 81:405–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Robert A. 2000. “Differential Influences on Participation in Midterm Versus Presidential Elections.” The Social Science Journal 37:385–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelley, Stanley, Jr., Ayers, Richard E., and Bowen, William G.. 1967. “Registration and Voting: Putting First Things First.” American Political Science Review 61:359–79.Google Scholar
Kim, Jae-On, Petrocik, John R., and Enokson, Stephen N.. 1975. “Voter Turnout among the American States: Systemic and Individual Components.” American Political Science Review 69:107–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knack, Stephen. 1995. “Does ‘Motor Voter’ Work? Evidence from State-Level Data” The Journal of Politics 57:796–811.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leighley, Jan E., and Nagler, Jonathan. 1992. “Socioeconomic Class Bias in Turnout, 1964–1988. The Voters Remain the Same.” American Political Science Review 86:725–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd, Randall D. 2001. “Voter Registration Reconsidered: Putting First Things First is Not Enough.” American Politics Research 29:649–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinez, Michael D., and Hill, David. 1999. “Did Motor Voter Work?” American Politics Quarterly 27:296–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, Glenn E., and Wlezien, Christopher. 1995. “The Impact of Legal Constraints on Voter Registration, Turnout, and the Composition of the American Electorate.” Political Behavior 17:179–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piven, Frances Fox, and Cloward, Richard A.. 2000. Why Americans Still Don't Vote. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Powell, G. Bingham. 1986. “American Voter Turnout in Comparative Perspective.” American Political Science Review 80:17–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Public Law 103–31. 1993. Statutes at Large. Vol. 107 Statutes 77–89.Google Scholar
Rhine, Staci L. 1996 “An Analysis of the Impact of Registration Factors on Turnout in 1992.” Political Behavior 18:171–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenstone, Steven J., and Hansen, John Mark. 1993. Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Squire, Peverill, Wolfinger, Raymond E., and Glass, David P.. 1987. “Residential Mobility and Voter Turnout.” American Political Science Review 81:45–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teixeira, Ruy A. 1992. The Disappearing American Voter. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Timpone, Richard J. 1998. “Structure, Behavior, and Voter Turnout in the United States.” American Political Science Review 92:145–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. 1988–2004. “Current Population Survey: Voter Supplement File, 1988–2004 (Computer files). ICPSR version. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census (producer). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (distributor).Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, and Nie, Norman H.. 1972. Participation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equality. New York, NY: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Wolfinger, Raymond E., and Hoffman, Jonathan. 2001. “Registering and Voting with Motor Voter.” PS: Political Science & Politics 34:85–92.Google Scholar
Wolfinger, Raymond E., and Rosenstone, Steven J.. 1980. Who Votes? New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar