Voter Registration Rolls

from: Jessica Myers on Mar 07, 2012

Voter Registration Rolls

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) requires every state to implement and maintain a computerized statewide voter registration list. This voter registration list serves as the official list of registered voters for the state as used in federal elections. Voter registration lists are maintained exclusively by the state; EAC does not have any regulatory involvement or enforcement authority over these voter registration lists.

The intent of this HAVA requirement is to make maintenance of the registered voter lists easier, which would lead to a decrease in the number of deceased, or otherwise ineligible, voters on the lists. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) requires states to conduct efforts to remove deceased registrants from the rolls on a regular basis.

Each state is responsible for achieving the requirements of HAVA and NVRA. State and local election officials must balance the need to keep the rolls accurate and up-to-date with the possibility of removing active eligible voters. For example, each state must find a way to keep voters who only vote in Presidential Elections (every four years) on the rolls, but remove those who have moved from the jurisdiction, died or are otherwise ineligible and have not notified the local election office of changes to their status.

The EAC funded a study, conducted by the National Academy of Science, titled Improving State Voter Registration Databases. This information was gathered over the course of three years by the Committee on State Voter Registration Databases, organized by the National Academies.

If you have additional information or questions, please contact Jessica Myers at jmyers@eac.gov or via Twitter (@EACgov).

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