Voter Registration and Institutional Reform: Lessons from a Historic Election

by DANIEL P. TOKAJI

Posterity will recall 2008 as the year in which the United States of America elected its first African American President. It may also be remembered as heralding a new era in American politics through an influx of newly registered voters that altered the pre-existing electoral landscape. Given the historic significance of this election, it is tempting to sweep aside the election administration issues that have dominated the last two presidential election cycles, including such matters as voting machines, provisional ballots, and voter registration. The margin of victory in the presidential election was sufficiently large to overshadow any difficulties in these areas, eliminating any doubt about the true winner.

A closer look reveals that serious problems with the infrastructure of American democracy remain. Topping the list is voter registration, which turned out to be the election administration issue of 2008, just as were voting machines in 2000 and provisional ballots in 2004. The significance of voter registration is nothing new. Both the parties and voting rights groups have long recognized that elections, from the presidential race on down, may be won and lost based on who is registered and how voter lists are maintained. But voter registration rules and practices assumed new significance in 2008. Across the country, battles emerged over the conduct of registration drives and the maintenance of registration lists, with those on the right mostly concerned that lax practices would lead to fraudulent voting and those on the left worried that eligible voters would be left off the lists. Both sides took the battle to court in swing states such as Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin.

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