Can You Vote If Not Registered

Why Are Millions of Citizens Not Registered to Vote?

A survey of the civically unengaged finds they lack interest, but outreach opportunities exist

Issue Cursory June 21, 2017 Read time:

Why Are Millions of Citizens Not Registered to Vote?

Voter registration

Overview

In every state and the District of Columbia—except North Dakota—individuals who plan to vote in a federal election must first register to vote. However, a sizable share of eligible citizens do not register. Official statistics vary, only a bourgeois gauge, calculated using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent Voting and Registration Supplement, indicates that 21.4 percent were not registered to vote in 2014.¹

Registration'southward importance to the voting process and the large number of individuals who remain unregistered have spurred several major reforms intended to increase voter registration. Most notably, the federal government's National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) requires that states allow eligible citizens to register to vote when completing other transactions at state motor vehicle and social services agencies, a provision commonly known equally Motor Voter.² Since enactment of the law, some states have expanded on this requirement past automating the Motor Voter process. Colorado upgraded its Motor Voter process in 2017, and Oregon became the first state to implement automatic voter registration in 2016, with at least six more planning to implement like policies in the hereafter.³ Other states offering Same Day Registration, which allows individuals to register and vote on Election Day, often right at their polling places.⁴

Despite these efforts, little is known well-nigh eligible but unregistered U.Southward. citizens' exposure to opportunities to annals, reasons for choosing not to, or attitudes toward the balloter organization and civic engagement, or how many of them are interested in registering in the time to come. To begin to fill up this gap, The Pew Charitable Trusts commissioned a nationally representative survey conducted in March and Apr 2016 that included a big population of unregistered individuals. This chartbook presents findings from the survey about the attitudes and experiences of those who said they were non registered to vote in the months preceding the 2016 presidential election, including:

Less than twenty percent of eligible citizens have been offered the gamble to annals at a motor vehicle or other government agency.
The unregistered were more than likely to say they do not vote considering they dislike politics or believe voting will not brand a difference, while people who are registered but vote infrequently say they do not vote more often because they are not informed enough almost the candidates or issues.
At least 13 percentage of the unregistered, by and large those who are younger and more civically engaged, say they could be motivated to register in the future.

Voting registration

Considering the American voting arrangement requires individuals to annals before they can vote, many political campaigns, nonprofits, religious organizations, and other groups concur voter registration drives. Despite these well-publicized efforts, more than 60 percent of developed citizens accept never been asked to register to vote, and the charge per unit was near identical amidst individuals who are and are not registered.⁵ Among respondents who had been invited to register, the nearly likely context was by an official at a motor vehicle agency, social service agency, or other government office. However, less than 20 pct of all those surveyed reported such an occurrence, which indicates that the NVRA has not been successful at reaching a big per centum of the population.

Voting registration

Forty-four per centum of eligible unregistered individuals say they do non want to vote. Another 27 per centum say they intend to register but haven't done so yet, and 25 per centum say they are unregistered because they have not been inspired by a candidate or issue. Eleven percent do not desire to annals due to privacy or security reasons. The survey was conducted earlier revelations in fall 2016 that hackers had targeted data from state voter registration systems, so the results do not reflect the public business concern almost the security of voter data that developed tardily in the campaign.⁶

Voting registration

The unregistered are more probable to indicate a broad distaste for the electoral system than registered individuals, who tend to requite election-specific motives for nonvoting, such as disliking the candidates or not knowing enough almost the bug. Forty percent of the unregistered say their aversion to politics is a major reason they don't want to vote, and 35 percent say voting has little to do with the way real decisions are made, compared with twenty and 19 pct of registered but infrequent voters, respectively.

Previous research has plant that many unregistered students feel they should not vote because they are insecure about their political knowledge.⁷ However, this survey found that only 17 pct of the unregistered population chose not to vote considering they are too uninformed well-nigh the candidates or problems to make good decisions, compared with more than twice that corporeality—39 percent—of registered infrequent voters.

Voting registration

Some people vote in many types of races, while others plow out only for certain elections or are registered only never vote. For example, in 2016, approximately sixty percent of eligible citizens voted in the presidential ballot, but in the 2014 congressional races, turnout was less than 40 percent.^eight To better empathise how the unregistered population compares with these different groups of voters, the survey asked respondents to call up well-nigh the various types of elections and evaluate how frequently they accept voted since they were outset eligible.⁹ Based on measures of people'southward involvement in government, current events, and political issues, unregistered individuals differ very little from those who are registered but rarely or never bandage a ballot, while frequent voters are more than iii times every bit likely as the unregistered to express involvement in regime.

Voting registration

Despite not participating in elections, 43 percentage of the unregistered and 59 percent of rare or nonvoters say they care a skilful deal who wins the presidential election. These groups expressed far less interest in the outcome of congressional races and presidential primaries, while frequent voters care about the winner of all three types of elections at very high rates. Although some of the unregistered may care who governs, many of these respondents even so were not interested in participating in choosing the president: But 38 pct said they intended to register but had not done so at the time of the survey, and 32 pct said they did not want to vote, probably because of their general belief that voting is disconnected from the way real decisions are fabricated and their feeling that i vote would not affect the effect of the election. (See Figure 3.)

Voting registration

Voters diverge significantly from the unregistered in terms of their views about the behaviors that are necessary for a person to be considered a skillful citizen. Jury service was the near ordinarily selected behavior for good citizens beyond groups at 69 percent of all respondents. Yet, across groups, the priority on jury duty differed widely: Simply 46 percent of the unregistered identified this as an essential responsibility of good citizenship, compared with 87 percent of frequent voters. Voters and the unregistered tended to be more than like-minded about behaviors such every bit volunteering fourth dimension to aid others. Sixty-iv percent of frequent voters and 48 percent of the unregistered said volunteering is something that a person should do to be a good citizen. Voting in elections and paying attending to politics were the ii behaviors virtually which voters and the unregistered population differed most. Frequent voters were more than three times as likely as the unregistered to say voting is something that good citizens should do.

Voting registration

An private's conventionalities that he or she is qualified to understand and participate in politics is considered a key metric for inferring engagement in the political system.¹⁰ All groups, except the most frequent voters, reported that the rules of authorities are difficult to empathise at roughly similar— and loftier—rates. But when asked if voting could influence the way the authorities is run, the unregistered and rare or nonvoters both tended to say information technology does not, which very clearly diverged from more frequent voters, who largely said voting does affect governance.

Voting registration

Most people, including more than than 80 percentage of the unregistered population, said they could have at least a modest positive impact on their communities. Occasional, semifrequent, and frequent voters were all most probable to say they could take a moderate effect, while rare and nonvoters were equally likely to cull moderate or pocket-size. The largest share of unregistered respondents said they could have only a small-scale impact.

Voting registration

Given that nonvoters and the unregistered have limited conviction in their ability to bear upon their communities, the fact that they are less probable to appoint in borough and volunteer activities than groups who vote more ofttimes is not surprising. Across different types of activities, the unregistered and nonvoters participate more oft in those that are not political in nature. Merely i per centum of the unregistered have donated money to a political candidate or organization, and merely 5 pct have attended a customs coming together. Yet, 15 per centum have done unpaid volunteer work. The civic behaviors of the unregistered population did non differ significantly from those of respondents who rarely or never vote and, in some cases, occasional voters were nearly as disengaged.

Voting registration

Among the unregistered population, responses differed almost possibly registering to vote in the future. Overall, 43 percent of the unregistered said nothing would motivate them to register, thirteen percent said something might, and 44 pct were undecided. Those who were open to registration tended to exist younger: Forty-six percentage of those who said they would register were between 18 and 29 years old, compared with 21 percentage ages 45 to 59 and just eleven percent 60 or older.

Voting registration

Among the unregistered, those who said they would register reported patterns of civic engagement that closely resembled those observed for occasional or semifrequent voters. Fourteen percent of unregistered individuals who said they would register and semifrequent voters had worked informally to solve a problem in their customs, and 21 and 27 percent of those groups, respectively, had engaged in economic protest. Similarly, 27 percent of those who would register had done unpaid volunteer piece of work, vi percentage had contributed money to a candidate, and 8 percent had attended a customs meeting, all which closely track the rates among occasional voters (25 percent, 6 percentage, and seven percent, respectively. See Figure 9.)

Conclusion

The unregistered differ in many means from those who vote frequently: They are less interested in politics, less engaged in civic activities, and more cynical about their ability to sympathise and influence authorities, merely they are not appreciably different on these measures from individuals who are registered but rarely vote. However, the unregistered population is not entirely unengaged from civic life; some indicated that they would register, and that grouping likewise reported participating in community or political activities at rates like to occasional and semifrequent voters. Further, more than 40 percent of the unregistered cared who would win the presidency in 2016, and some indicated that they could be motivated to annals in the future, though many also feel that the voting process does non affect the fashion governing decisions are made. These findings advise that opportunities exist to engage segments of the unregistered population, including through consequent outreach at motor vehicle agencies as required under the NVRA and public education campaigns designed to highlight the significance of private voter participation to election outcomes and the connection between local policies and issues these citizens intendance about, such equally those for which they volunteer in their communities. Less than 20 percent of this group has been asked to register by a country agency, and a substantial increase in that figure could assistance to meliorate registration rates and electoral participation among these disconnected citizens.

Methodology

The Voting Frequency Survey was conducted online in English and Spanish from March 25 to April xix, 2016, past the GfK Group on behalf of The Pew Charitable Trusts. The total sample size was iii,763 U.South. citizens eighteen years or older. GfK sampled households from its KnowledgePanel, a probability-based, nationally representative spider web panel. The margin of error, calculated with the design issue, at the 95 pct level of confidence for the total sample is plus or minus 1.9 per centum points. A total methodology, including margins of fault for key subgroups, is given in Appendix A: Voting Frequency Survey Methodology, available on the chartbook webpage. The survey questions and frequencies are available in Appendix B: Voting Frequency Survey Topline.

Endnotes

The Census Bureau calculated that 35.4 percent of eligible citizens were not registered to vote in 2014, equally reported in "Who Votes? Congressional Elections and the American Electorate: 1978-2014," July 16, 2015, https://world wide web.census.gov/library/publications/2015/demo/p20-577.html. However, researchers agree that this calculation artificially inflates the per centum of the population that is unregistered because it includes those who were not asked or did non answer the registration question in the Voting and Registration Supplement as beingness unregistered. More data on the method for adjusting the registration charge per unit can be found in The Pew Charitable Trusts, Elections Performance Alphabetize: Methodology (August 2016), http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2016/08/epi_methodology.pdf.
The National Voter Registration Act applies to 44 states and the District of Columbia. Idaho, Minnesota, New Hampshire, N Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming are exempt because at the time the law was implemented, they offered Election 24-hour interval registration or had no registration requirements.
National Briefing of Land Legislatures, "Automatic Voter Registration," March 8, 2017, http://www.ncsl.org/enquiry/elections-and-campaigns/automatic-voter-registration.aspx.
National Conference of Country Legislatures, "Aforementioned Day Voter Registration," Jan. 11, 2017, http://world wide web.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/aforementioned-twenty-four hour period-registration.aspx.
Differences are within the margins of mistake, which are 3.62 percentage points for the subgroup of unregistered respondents and two.21 percentage points for registered voters.
Eric Geller and Darren Samuelsohn, "More Than twenty States Have Faced Major Election Hacking Attempts, DHS Says," Politico, Oct. 3, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/states-major-election-hacking-228978.
D.J. Neri, Jess Leifer, and Anthony Barrows, "Graduating Students into Voters" (April 2016), http://www.aascu.org/programs/ADP/StudentsintoVoters.pdf.
Michael P. McDonald, Us Elections Project,"Voter Turnout," accessed Feb. 6, 2017, http://www.electproject.org/dwelling/voter-turnout/voter-turnout-information.
The question asked: "In that location are many types of elections such as federal elections for president and members of Congress, primary elections where voters cull party nominees, local elections for city council and school board, and special elections when vacancies ascend in between scheduled elections. Which best describes how often you vote, since you lot became eligible? Every election without exception, Virtually every ballot – may have missed one or 2, Some elections, Rarely, Don't vote in elections." The iv frequencies of voting reverberate respondents' answers to the question of how often they vote. Individuals who answered "Every election without exception" are defined as frequent voters, "Virtually every election – may have missed one or two" are semifrequent voters, "Some elections" are categorized as occasional voters, and the answers "Rarely" and "Don't vote in elections" were combined into a grouping chosen rare or nonvoters, both due to sample size and because these ii groups were virtually identical on fundamental measures.
Richard G. Niemi, Stephen C. Craig, and Franco Mattei, "Measuring Internal Political Efficacy in the 1988 National Election Study," The American Political Science Review 85, no. iv (1991): 1407–13, doi:10.2307/1963953.