Over the years, Massey Media has worked closely with Project Vote, an organization that works to ensure that every eligible American citizen who wishes to vote can do so. Part of Project Vote’s work involves getting people onto the voter rolls, but another part involves making sure that states and the federal government are complying with the laws they pass that govern voting rights.

The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) is popularly known as the “motor-voter” law because it mandates that voter registration cards must be made available at federal offices that provide services to citizens, including your friendly Motor Vehicle Administration offices. Thousands if not millions have made it onto the voter rolls this way. I myself have lived in and registered to vote in five successive states at the MVA while I got my new driver’s license. Other public agencies required to provide voter registration cards include social services. If you apply for welfare or for Medicare, the office should also have voter registration cards available. It’s a small step that could make a big difference in the proportion of low-income and minority voters — if it were implemented.

a new report on NVRA at 15 years old

Unfortunately, some states have been reluctant (at best) to implement this part of the NVRA. Lack of oversight and accountability, and the fact that many staff have never learned that they are required to provide the forms, have led Project Vote to issue advisories to many states. The organization made headlines early this month when it had to sue New Mexico and Indiana to try and ensure that these states come into compliance with national law!

If the NVRA were fully implemented, Project Vote estimates that two or three million voters could be added to the rolls per year. These voters would be primarily minorities and low-income citizens, who often are not targeted in voter registration drives. These two groups are notoriously underrepresented in the electorate. The law exists to correct this imbalance, so that the electorate can more fully reflect the general population. Entrenched interests — and simple inertia — are working against implementation of the NVRA. We hope that the Department of Justice will make it one of their priorities to ensure that as many citizens as possible get on the voting rolls, and the simplest way to start that process is to make states follow the law!

- Janaki Spickard-Keeler