June 2022 rankings
| Formation | 2018 |
|---|---|
| Location |
|
Author | Scot Schraufnagel |
Author | Michael J. Pomante II |
Author | Quan Li |
| Website | costofvotingindex |
| 2022 Election Law Journal article | |
The Cost of Voting Index measures and ranks how difficult it is to vote in each state in the United States, focusing on voter registration and voting rules. [1] [2] The index also has rankings for every two years since 1996. [3] [4] The states ranked as being easier to vote also tend to have higher voter turnout. [5] [6]
The 2022 iteration of the index has 10 categories with various criteria within each category to measure and rank each state on how easy it is to vote.
| Categories | Issue Area | Cost of Voting Consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Voter Registration | #1–Registration Deadline (Ratio-Level) | # of days prior to the election a voter must be registered to vote |
| #2–Voter Reg. Restrictions (9-Item Additive Sub-index) | Same day registration not allowed for all elections | |
| Same day registration not located at polling station | ||
| Mental competency req. for voter registration | ||
| No online voter registration | ||
| Same day reg. not allowed for presidential election | ||
| Felons not allowed to register while incarcerated | ||
| Felons not allowed to register after incarceration | ||
| Online voter reg. deadline greater than median | ||
| Additional documents req. beyond federal min. | ||
| #3–Reg. Drive Restrictions (4-Item Additive Sub-index) | Official group certification required | |
| State mandated training required | ||
| Group required to submit documents to state | ||
| Penalty imposed for violation of deadlines or rules | ||
| No registration drives allowed (scored ‘‘5’’) | ||
| #4–Pre-Registration Laws (7-Item Ordered Scale) | 0 = 16-year-olds can pre-register | |
| 1 = 17-year-olds can pre-register | ||
| 2 = 17.5-year-olds can pre-register | ||
| 3 = 90 days before 18th birthday can pre-register | ||
| 4 = 60 days before 18th birthday can pre-register | ||
| 5 = 16-year-old policy, no legal basis | ||
| 6 = no state law discusses pre-registration | ||
| #5–Automatic Voter Reg. (4-Item Ordered Scale) | 0 = Citizen must opt out–‘‘Back end AVR’’ | |
| 1 = Automatic reg. at more than one state agency | ||
| 2 = Automatic registration at DMV, only | ||
| 3 = No automatic voter registration | ||
| Voting | #6–Voting Inconvenience (12-Item Additive Sub-index) | No Election Day state holiday |
| No early voting | ||
| No all mail voting | ||
| No Voting Centers | ||
| No time-off from work for voting | ||
| No time-off from work with pay for voting | ||
| Mail voting but no Election Day polling option | ||
| Reduced number of polling stations post-Holder | ||
| Reduced # of polling stations >50% (some areas) | ||
| Excessive Election Day wait time | ||
| No postage paid envelopes | ||
| No passing out food/water to people in line to vote | ||
| #7–Voter ID Laws (5-Item Ordered Scale) | 0 = no ID required to cast a ballot, only signature | |
| 1 = non-photo ID required not strictly enforced | ||
| 2 = photo ID required not strictly enforced | ||
| 3 = non-photo ID required strictly enforced | ||
| 4 = photo ID required strictly enforced | ||
| #8–Poll Hours (Ratio-Level) | Min. and Max. poll hours (averaged & reversed) | |
| #9–Early Voting Days (Ratio-Level) | Number of early voting days (reversed) | |
| #10–Absentee Voting (10-Item Additive Sub-index) | State-sanctioned excuse required to vote absentee | |
| No in-person absentee voting | ||
| No permanent absentee status allowed | ||
| No online absentee application process | ||
| Must include copy of ID to vote absentee | ||
| No convenient absentee ballot drop-off locations | ||
| Restriction on who can return an absentee ballot | ||
| Restriction on timing/quantity of ballots returned | ||
| No 3rd party dist. of absentee ballot applications | ||
| No election official distribution of absentee ballots |
The following factors, while not included, also influence the ease and likelihood of voting or voter suppression.
Ballot initiatives often give voters more reasons to go to the polls by offering a straightforward way to streamline their own election process by circumventing the incumbent politicians. [7]
Ballot length: ballots with dozens and dozens of items to vote on can discourage citizens from doing the difficult research they may feel is required, spending less time researching each race. [8]
Compulsory voting: voting is easier when 90%+ of citizens vote, creating positive cultural norms, establishing voting habits, and having more citizens who can help each other navigate the process.
Election frequency and timing: two-round elections, recall elections, and off-year elections all suppress voter turnout. [9]
Gerrymandering can disincentivize voting by artificially making certain races less competitive. [10]
Information accessibility and press freedom: information warfare, [11] support for public or nonprofit media, and transparency in government operations all influence the ease of voting and trust of voting systems through enhanced election security. 2/3 of U.S. college students cited a lack of information as a reason for why they didn't vote. [12]
Party membership requirements: requiring voters to register with a party makes voting more complex and difficult, especially for those people who don't identify with the party that is likely to win the seat in the general election.
Purges of voter rolls: the act of unregistering voters by sending postcards requiring what amounts to re-registration or employing a 'use it or lose it' approach where after a certain number of elections of not voting, voters are automatically removed from the voter rolls without any evidence that they have moved. [13]
Threats and voter intimidation: Intimidation can result from the presence of cameras or guns at polling places to ballots that may not be secret. [14] Following-through on threats by physically harming or killing people can severely deter voter participation. [15]
Voter enfranchisement: voting starting at the age of 16 helps the learning process of how to vote, and simplicity with regard to felony enfranchisement also makes voting simpler. [12]
Voter verification: a substantial match standard for signatures on mail-in ballots, for example, makes it less likely for valid votes to be destroyed than in a system with an 'exact match' standard, without any evidence of an increase in fraud. [16] Many states in the U.S., for example, also allow voters to remedy ballots where the signatures seem too different. [17] Other sources of complications arise from issues in matching data from different databases where discrepancies could arise for lots of reasons for those with the right to vote. [18]
Compulsory voting, also called universal civic duty voting or mandatory voting, is the requirement that registered voters participate in an election. As of January 2023, 21 countries have compulsory voting laws. Law enforcement in those countries varies considerably and the penalty for not casting a ballot without a proper justification ranges from severe to non-existent.
In political science, voter fatigue is a cause of voter abstention which result from the electorates of representative democracies being asked to vote often, on too many issues or without easy access to relevant information. Voter fatigue can be a symptom of efforts that make voting more difficult that some describe as voter suppression, which changes the voting rules and environment in such a way that turnout decreases as the cost of voting increases.
Electronic voting is voting that uses electronic means to either aid or take care of casting and counting ballots including voting time.
Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of rival candidates, or both. It differs from but often goes hand-in-hand with voter suppression. What exactly constitutes electoral fraud varies from country to country, though the goal is often election subversion.
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referendums are decided. In modern politics, the most high-profile political campaigns are focused on general elections and candidates for head of state or head of government, often a president or prime minister.
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford University political scientists Adam Bonica and Michael McFaul, there is a consensus among political scientists that "democracies perform better when more people vote."
Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they wanted to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the electoral system used. The most commonly used systems are the plurality system and the two-round system for single-winner elections, such as a presidential election, and proportional representation for the election of a legislature or executive.
"Get out the vote" or "getting out the vote" (GOTV) describes efforts aimed at increasing the voter turnout in elections. In countries that do not have or enforce compulsory voting, voter turnout can be low, sometimes even below a third of the eligible voter pool. GOTV efforts typically attempt to register voters, then get them to vote, by absentee ballot, early voting or election day voting. GOTV is generally not required for elections when there are effective compulsory voting systems in place, other than perhaps to register first time voters.
In the politics of the United States, elections are held for government officials at the federal, state, and local levels. At the federal level, the nation's head of state, the president, is elected indirectly by the people of each state, through an Electoral College. Today, these electors almost always vote with the popular vote of their state. All members of the federal legislature, the Congress, are directly elected by the people of each state. There are many elected offices at state level, each state having at least an elective governor and legislature. There are also elected offices at the local level, in counties, cities, towns, townships, boroughs, and villages; as well as for special districts and school districts which may transcend county and municipal boundaries.
Elections in Georgia are held to fill various state and federal seats. Regular elections are held every even year. The positions being decided each year varies, as the terms of office varies. The State Senate, State House and U.S. House will typically be up for election, as all of those positions have two-year terms. Special elections are held to fill vacated offices. Georgia is one of seven states that require a run-off election if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in a primary election and one of only two states that require a run-off election for state and congressional offices if no candidate wins a majority of the vote in a general election; Louisiana has a similar requirement, but it operates under a different election system.
Voter suppression are tactics used to discourage or prevent specific groups of people from voting or registering to vote. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters through persuasion and organization, activating otherwise inactive voters, or registering new supporters. Voter suppression, instead, attempts to gain an advantage by reducing the turnout of certain voters. Suppression is an anti-democratic tactic associated with authoritarianism.
Youth suffrage is the right of youth to vote and forms part of the broader universal suffrage and youth rights movements. Most democracies have lowered the voting age to between 16 and 18, while some advocates for children's suffrage hope to remove age restrictions entirely.
Electoral reform in Texas refers to efforts to change the voting and election laws in the State of Texas.
Voter turnout in US elections is the total number of votes cast by the voting age population (VAP), or more recently, the voting eligible population (VEP), divided by the entire voting eligible population. It is usually displayed as a percentage, showing which percentage of eligible voters actually voted.
VoteRiders is an American non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to ensure that all U.S. citizens over 18 years old are able to exercise their right to vote. One of its main focuses is assisting citizens who want to secure their voter ID, and VoteRiders collaborates with other organizations in these efforts.
Voter suppression in the United States consists of various legal and illegal efforts to prevent eligible citizens from exercising their right to vote. Such voter suppression efforts vary by state, local government, precinct, and election. Voter suppression has historically been used for racial, economic, gender, age and disability discrimination. After the American Civil War, all African-American men were granted voting rights, but poll taxes or language tests were used to limit and suppress the ability to register or cast a ballot. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 improved voting access. Since the beginning of voter suppression efforts, proponents of these laws have cited concerns over electoral integrity as a justification for various restrictions and requirements, while opponents argue that these constitute bad faith given the lack of voter fraud evidence in the United States.
Fair Fight Action is an American political organization founded in 2018 by Stacey Abrams to address voter suppression in Georgia and across the United States.
Democracy Docket is a voting rights and media platform that tracks election litigation. It has been described as liberal-leaning and progressive. It was founded in 2020 by Democratic Party lawyer Marc Elias and is published by Democracy Docket, LLC.
Following the 2020 United States presidential election and the unsuccessful attempts by Donald Trump and various other Republican officials to overturn it, Republican lawmakers initiated a sweeping effort to make voting laws more restrictive within several states across the country. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, as of October 4, 2021, more than 425 bills that would restrict voting access have been introduced in 49 states—with 33 of these bills enacted across 19 states so far. The bills are largely centered around limiting mail-in voting, strengthening voter ID laws, shortening early voting, eliminating automatic and same-day voter registration, curbing the use of ballot drop boxes, and allowing for increased purging of voter rolls. Republicans in at least eight states have also introduced bills that would give lawmakers greater power over election administration after they were unsuccessful in their attempts to overturn election results in swing states won by Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The efforts garnered press attention and public outrage from Democrats, and by 2023 Republicans had adopted a more "under the radar" approach to achieve their goals.
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