The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

According to a recent report on the 2008 election, four to five million people said they could not register to vote because of administrative problems, and another four million registered voters were unable to cast their ballot due to problems election officials claimed existed with their registration.

Many of the problems with voter registration in the U.S. disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities, people in prison, and low-income people.  According to Kristen Clarke of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, purge programs that often remove eligible voters from registration lists and mass rejection of registration forms for small, easily correctible errors are two of the biggest problems with the current system.

In addition, many local election officials are not familiar with how to implement federal voter laws like the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, and laws regarding students, homeless voters, and incarcerated and ex-felon voters are often unclear and confusing.

Congress is currently holding hearings to determine what action it can take to ensure fairer elections.