Election Administration in the United States

Introduction

The practice of voter registration has a long history in the United States. In 1800, Massachusetts was the first state to impose a voter registration requirement. By Reconstruction, a handful of states used voter registration, typically in urban areas, as a tool to prevent multiple voting. By early in the twentieth century, most states required voter registration.

In recent decades, there have been many initiatives to make voter registration easier and more convenient for voters. At the federal level, the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA, 1993) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA, 2002) both sought to ease the registration process for eligible voters. For example, NVRA made the registration process available in government agencies and by mail and HAVA required that most states develop statewide computerized voter lists, among other reforms. At the same time, many states shortened preelection registration deadlines, allowed for election day voter registration, and worked in other ways to make the registration process easier.