Election Day Registration, also known as "same-day voter registration," permits eligible citizens to register and vote on Election Day. Election Day Registration significantly increases the opportunity for all citizens to cast a vote and participate in democracy. Voting is a method of decision making wherein a group such as a meeting or an electorate attempts to gauge its opinion—usually as a final step following discussions or debates. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. ... An election is a decision making process where people choose people to hold official offices. ... Image File history File links Vote_icon. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Postal voting. ... Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not goes to vote (on election day) or, in parliamentary procedure, isnt absent during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. ... For the town in France, see Ballots, Mayenne. ... Clear sided ballot boxes used in the Haitian general election in 2006. ... Ballot stuffing is the act of one person submitting multiple ballots during a vote in which only one ballot per person is permitted. ... Early voting, or vote banking, not to be confused with absentee voting, allows a voter to cast a ballot in front of an elections official before the official poll date. ... In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to get any seats in the parliament. ... An elector can be: In the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation, the collegiate of seven Electors (eight since 1648) (Kurfürsten) consisted of those lay or clerical princes who had the right to vote in the election of the king or Holy Roman Emperor; see prince-elector. ... None of the Above (NOTA) is a ballot choice in some jurisdictions or organizations, placed so as to allow the voter to indicate his disapproval with all of the candidates in any voting system. ... The paradox of voting, also referred to as Downs paradox is a reference to the fact that for a rational, self-interested voter, the costs of voting will normally exceed the expected benefits. ... A polling station situated inside a suburban library in the north of Cambridge during the United Kingdom general election, 2005. ... Postal Voting describes the method of voting in an election whereby ballot papers are distributed and/or returned by post to electors, in contrast to electors voting in person at a Polling station or electronically via an Electronic voting system. ... A precinct is a space enclosed by the walls or other boundaries of a particular place or building, or by an arbitrary and imaginary line drawn around it. ... A Protest vote is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate the casters unhappiness with the choice of candidates or the current political system. ... In U.S. elections, when someone shows up at a polling place to cast a vote, but is not on the list of people who may vote there (is not registered in that precinct, or his registation is otherwise invalid or inaccurate), he may be allowed to cast a provisional... A refused ballot, or similar alternative, is a choice available to voters in many elections. ... Elections Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voters choices are confidential. ... In voting, a ballot paper is considered to be spoilt, void, or null if it is regarded by the election authorities to contain irregularities during vote counting, and hence cannot be recorded as a valid vote. ... In voting systems, tactical voting (or strategic voting) occurs when a voter misrepresents his or her sincere preferences in order to gain a more favorable outcome. ... A tally (also see tally sticks) is an unofficial private observation of an election count carried out under Proportional Representation using the Single Transferable Vote. ... A ticket refers to a single election choice which fills more than one political office or seat. ... Ticket Splitters are those who split their tickets for public office, voting on the basis of individual personalities and records instead of on the basis of party loyalties. ... Election Technology This box:      A vote center sometimes known as a super precinct is a polling place that combines multiple precincts allowing voters to choose at which location to vote. ... Vote pairing (or vote swapping as it has also been called) is the method where a voter in one district agrees to vote tactically for a less-preferred candidate or party who has a greater chance of winning in their district, in exchange for a voter from another district voting... In politics, voter fatigue is the apathy that the public can experience when they are required to vote too often. ... Voter registration is the shit in some democracies for citizens to check in with some central registry before being allowed to vote in elections. ... Voters lining up outside a Baghdad polling station during the 2005 Iraqi election. ... A polling station situated inside a suburban library in the north of Cambridge during the United Kingdom general election, 2005. ... A voting machine is a device to record and register votes to be counted as per any voting system, with or without printing a ballot for the voter to verify. ...

United States

Seven states have some form of Election Day Registration: Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming. (Montana enacting the practice for the first time in 2006). (Connecticut also has EDR, but only for casting votes for the Presidency.) Two more states, Iowa and North Carolina, have passed similar legislation to allow for same-day voter registration and will begin being used in January of 2008 and October of 2007 respectively. Under the new system proposed in North Carolina, the same-day registration would occur three to nineteen days before the scheduled election.

In the 2004 presidential election, voter turnout in states utilizing Election Day Registration was 12 percent higher than states that did not.^[1] Likewise, in the 2006 elections, states with EDR showed turnout rates 10-12 percent higher than in non-EDR states. .^[2]

In EDR states, eligible citizens who are not found on the voting lists are asked to show a valid ID to a poll worker, who checks their ID, consults the registration list, and, if they are not registered, registers them on the spot. Research shows that the people most likely to be affected are middle- and low-income voters, young people, and recent movers.

References

1. ^ January 2005, High 2004 Turnout for States with Election Day Registration Demos.org
2. ^ January 2007, Voters Win With Election Day Registration Demos.org

External links

Demos.org Democracy Program: Election Day Registration