Voter Registration Lookup Tools

Return to Election Data Dispatches.

More and more Americans look to the Internet to find a variety of information, and going online has increasingly become a part of peoples’ daily lives. Registration lookup tools provide voters essential information, such as whether they are registered to vote and whether their information is accurate, in the place many people look first—online. Additionally, election offices can save time and money when voters check this type of information online instead of calling local officials. 

Forty-one states and the District of Columbia currently provide such a tool for all voters on their state election websites, according to new research from the Pew Center on the States, which  examined all state election websites over the course of a two-week period in September. These are the same 41 states that provided this information on their websites in 2010, the last time Pew conducted this assessment. See our report Being Online is Still Not Enough. In 2008, 25 states and the District of Columbia had this tool in place.

Nine states do not provide an online tool, which allows voters to verify that they are registered and see whether their information is accurate. However, two of these states—Delaware and Oklahoma—do provide online polling place lookup tools that require users to be registered to vote in order to access the information.

America’s Overdose Crisis
America’s Overdose Crisis

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
Quick View

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
Composite image of modern city network communication concept

Learn the Basics of Broadband from Our Limited Series

Sign up for our four-week email course on Broadband Basics

Quick View

How does broadband internet reach our homes, phones, and tablets? What kind of infrastructure connects us all together? What are the major barriers to broadband access for American communities?

Pills illustration
Pills illustration

What Is Antibiotic Resistance—and How Can We Fight It?

Sign up for our four-week email series The Race Against Resistance.

Quick View

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also known as “superbugs,” are a major threat to modern medicine. But how does resistance work, and what can we do to slow the spread? Read personal stories, expert accounts, and more for the answers to those questions in our four-week email series: Slowing Superbugs.