Voter Registration - a report from the Brennan Center

[intaglio]

A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice estimates that only 68% of Americans eligible to vote are in fact on the voter roles. According to History News Network's headline this places the USA "Dead Last" in voter registration

http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/expanding_democracy_voter_registration_around_the_world/

The abstract of the Brennan Report itself does not say this but rather

... Today, one-quarter to one-third of all eligible Americans remain unregistered — and thus are unable to cast ballots that will count. Even Americans who are registered risk being blocked from casting a ballot because of problems with our voter registration system — unprocessed registrations, inaccurate purges of names from the voter rolls, and other administrative and human errors. The registration system is as much a problem for the dedicated civil servants who administer our elections as it is for voters. It is costly, inefficient, and insufficiently accurate

The report further points out that

... Of greatest relevance, Canada shares our decentralized federal system. There, provinces create and maintain their own voter rolls, and a federal election authority builds a separate voter roll for use in federal elections that is based in significant part on the provincial rolls and in part on other government lists. When an individual turns eighteen, or becomes a citizen, he or she is added to the rolls. A voter who moves remains on the rolls. The system works efficiently (and with no allegations of fraud). An overwhelming Ninety-three percent of eligible citizens are registered to vote, compared to 68% of Americans who were registered to vote as of the last Census report.

It seems silly that one of the most technically advanced countries in the world in so lackadaisical in maintaining voter roles.

Am afraid that this is a post and run as I have to get to bed. I will leave it to you excellent folk to sort out the rights and wrongs of this

ooops forgot the link