Brennan Center releases report examing voter registration around the world

The Brennan Center for Justice has just issued “Expanding Democracy: Voter Registration Around the World”, which analyzes voter registration systems’ efficiencies and inefficiencies in countries around the world.

The report compared the United States system of voter registration, which places the responsibility of registering to vote on the voters themselves with the operations of governments in sixteen other countries and found numerous ways the U.S. could improve it’s voter registration system and add countless voters to the rolls. The report is the third to be released by the Brennan Center this June and comes as Congress appears to be ready to consider voter registration reforms and modernization. “When Voters Move”, issued June 13 examines problems for when voters move from areas they are registered in. “Permanent Voter Registration” serves as a solution to that problem. The report estimates that as much as 45 percent of Americans move at least once in a 5-year period. The Center proposes permanent voter registration to combat the problem.

The release of these reports quickly prompted editorials and news stories across the country including a New York Times editorial, Washington Post collumn and Rollcall.com editorial.