Brennan Center for Justice

Each Component of VRM Is Currently Being Used Successfully in Multiple States Across the Country:

• At least 23 states — Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington — currently or will soon have fully or substantially electronic voter registration at DMVs.
• 38 state DMVs automatically register all eligible young men for the Selective Service, as do a variety of other federal and state agencies.
• 8 states — Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, and Utah plus the District of Columbia have systems of portable registration that allow registered voters who move to cast valid ballots even if they do not update their registrations before Election Day. 
• 11 states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming — plus the District of Columbia currently offer, or have enacted laws which provide for, Election Day registration, allowing eligible citizens to register or update their records on Election Day. Three other states — Maryland, North Carolina,* and Ohio — as well as D.C. have or will soon offer Same Day Registration.
• At least 34 states allow citizens to look up their voter registration information online.
• At least 20 states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia — currently or will soon offer online voter registration. 
• Thanks to a 2002 federal law, every state now has (or soon will have) a computerized statewide voter registration database capable of sharing information in some form with other government databases.

* Given a recent new law in North Carolina, Same Day Registration will no longer be available effective January 2014.

Every State That Has Implemented Elements of VRM Has Saved Money:

• VRM is a modest investment, and it will pay for itself, saving states millions of dollars a year.
• Washington spent about $280K to implement electronic voter registration at DMVs and introduce online registration.  The Secretary of State’s office saved over $125K in the first year, and the counties saved even more.
• Online registration cost Arizona less than $100K, and automating DMV registrations cost only an additional $30K.
• In Maricopa County, Arizona (which includes Phoenix), processing a paper voter registration form costs 83¢, compared to an average of 3¢ for applications received electronically from the DMV or through the online system. 
• In 2008, Maricopa County saved data entry costs equivalent to the cost of eight full-time employees.
• Delaware recently improved its electronic voter registration system at DMVs, saving over $200,000 a year from its election budget.
• State election officials estimate that VRM could reduce election costs by one third.
• Canada fully recouped the cost of its VRM system in one national election.

Electronic Transmission of Voter Registrations Increases Registration Rates:

• In Washington and Kansas, the number of voter registration transactions at DMVs doubled after the system became electronic. 
• In South Dakota, the number of registrations at DMVs increased almost eight-fold after implementing electronic voter registration. 
• In Delaware, which implemented partial electronic voter registration at DMVs over a decade ago, 81% of all registrations come from DMVs, compared to 38% nationally.

Voter Registration Modernization Is Possible Now

The movement for voter registration modernization is thriving in the states.  State experiences show that voter registration modernization is feasible, cost-effective, and will save taxpayers millions of dollars each year. 

• Please click here for our latest report on paperless registration and how states have moved to modernize their voter registration systems.
• Please click here for a PowerPoint presentation based on our report on paperless registration.
• Please click here for a fact sheet on Voter Registration Modernization in the States.
• Please click here for an issue brief detailing modernization momentum in the states.
• Please click here for Components of a Bill to Modernize the Voter Registration System.

Back to Voter Registration Modernization