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correlated with voter registration, so it is safe to assume that many
of the Virginians who searched for information on how to register to
vote would have registered and voted if the deadline hadn’t blocked
them. If the ratio of searches to registrations from September 2010
had been able to continue through the post-deadline election season,
nearly 40,000 post-deadline registrations would have occurred.
Same day registration would have given these would-be voters an
opportunity to vote.
But one could go even further, fully merging id-creation and voter
registration. Photo-id laws arguably make separate voter registration
unnecessary. Fully integrating voter registration with photo
identification could save millions of dollars now spent maintaining
separate registration databases. And because state photo-id cards can
be scanned electronically, they could digitize and dissolve the voter
identification delays that contributed to long lines in November 2012.
The proposals I have put forward in this essay aim at opportunities
to use Virginia’s new voter-id requirements to simultaneously
increase participation and prevent fraud, the goals of activists on each
side of the issue. These ideas could assure citizens that valid photo-id
guarantees ballot access, while ensuring that only eligible voters can
participate.
Jesse Richman is an associate professor of Political Science at Old
Dominion University.
Virginia’s new voter photo identification
requirements create new opportunities. By
building upon these laws, state leaders can
merge high levels of election security with
expanded ballot access through same day
registration and full integration of id-creation
and voter-registration.
Voter photo identification requirements
have
generated
great
controversy.
Opponents fear that some eligible voters
will not be able to obtain appropriate
identification (especially the elderly and the
poor). Supporters fear that voter fraud is facilitated when voters do
not need to present photo identification. It is all too easy to get locked
into a political tug-of-war in which each side sees itself as protecting
fundamental democratic values – the security of the ballot box, and
access to the ballot box.
Unfortunately such political tussles have obscured opportunities
to use photo-identification to leverage secure ballot access for vastly
more Virginians while saving money, and streamlining election
administration.
At minimum, passage of photo-id eliminates nearly all
justifications for not allowing same day voter registration at the
polls. My valid photo identification with my address on it establishes
conclusively that I am an eligible
voter in my polling precinct.
If I am not already registered,
I should be able to register on-
the-spot and cast a ballot.
Shifting
to
same-day-
registration
would
allow
thousands
of
additional
Virginians access to the ballot.
Many studies show that voter
registration
requirements
and pre-election registration
deadlines reduce voter turnout.
It is increasingly possible to
observe these excluded would-
be voters trying to gain ballot
access after the deadline has
doomed them to not vote, as I
do in a paper recently presented
at the Midwest Political Science
Association conference.
The figure shows the relative
frequency (on a scale from 0
to 100) with which Virginians
searched for “register to vote”
in weeks leading up to the
2010 election. The bars marked
in red are for searches made
after Virginia’s registration
deadline. The frequency of voter
registration searches is highly
How Photo Identification
can Increase Voter Turnout
By Dr. Jesse Richman
Frequency of Google Searches for
“Register to Vote”During 2010
Virginia Election
Compiled by Dr. Jesse Richman at Old Dominion University
from Google Insights Data
08/29–09/04
09/05–09/11
09/12–09/18
09/19–09/25
09/26–10/02
10/03–10/09
10/10–10/16
10/17–10/23
10/24–10/30
10/31–11/06
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
After Deadline
Before Deadline
Relative Frequency
V
