New Report Finds that Modernizing Voter Registration Systems Would Cut Costs for Local Governments

May 7, 2009 - Posted by The Leadership Conference

U.S. PIRG, a national nonprofit that lobbies on consumer and public interest issues, released a report yesterday that shows that local voter registration systems are inefficient and expensive to maintain and that modernizing and streamlining antiquated systems would reduce costs for local governments.

U.S. PIRG surveyed 100 counties and found that more than $33 million of public money was spent on voter registration in 2008. Small counties spent an average of around $87,000, medium counties spent around $250,000, and large counties spent more than $1 million. Some of the largest counties spent as much as $3 million on voter registration.

The report also found that these costs do not include overtime pay or outreach election official conduct to encourage voter registration.

The report states: "Election officials must spend taxpayer dollars to deal with the errors and challenges of our paper-driven, inefficient registration system. If we modernized our system, election officials could instead use their budget for activities that promote our democracy, such as training poll-workers and election education, as well as on more effectively administering Election Day."

U.S. PIRG recommends that the federal government require states to provide automatic voter registration and same-day voting for people who may have missed registration deadlines. It also recommends that the federal government provide funding support to states.