Voter Registration: The Unlikely Voter's View

A recent poll by USA Today and Suffolk University specifically targeting unregistered and unlikely voters found that more than one-quarter of respondents do not register to vote because they are too busy or don’t have the time. Additionally, while the majority of respondents thought the process to register to vote was easy, 16 percent said it takes too much time or is too complicated.

Previous survey research has shown confusion about the voter registration process, with one in four voters assuming election officials or the U.S. Postal Service will update his or her voter registration automatically when they move. Additionally the same survey found more than half of voters did not know they could update their voter registration information at state motor vehicle agencies, as mandated by the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).