Bipartisan group trying to find ways to repair voter registration

A report issued by the bipartisan group The Pew Center on the States looks for solutions to the country’s outdated, costly and inaccurate voting registration system.

According to the report, more than two million voters were unable to vote due to registration problems. Because of these findings, PCS held a summit, “Voting in America,” in Washington D.C.

The summit and report’s findings concluded that using out-dated procedures to collect information lead to human errors. These practices, such as hand-written registration cars, also left election offices overwhelmed with piles of registration cards the day before Election Day.

What was once seen as a solution, approximately half of provisional ballots were rejected because voters did not appear on the rolls. Voters who move also have a higher chance of running into problems with registration. The report found military personnel were almost twice as likely as the general public to run into registration problems.

Possible solutions issued by the report are using official sources such as the Division of Motor Vehicles to provide accurate voter records to federal and state governments. Using current technology could also save the government millions. A paper registration form costs 83 cents to process, while a registration completed online costs only 3 cents in Maricopa County, Ariz.

They also recommend the government establish a failsafe method for eligible voters who are omitted from the rolls or who’s records contain an error to cast a ballot and to make voter registration more portable for voters.

Read The New York Times and Washington Post editorials about the report.