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Voter Registration

March 11, 2009

NAACP Legal Defense Fund Presents Testimony to Senate Committee on Voter Registration Challenges

(New York, NY) – Today, Kristen Clarke, Co-Director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund's Political Participation Group, testified in a hearing before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration that assessed persisting voter registration challenges. Although 2008 was a historic election year, only 61% of eligible Americans voted in the General Election, an increase of just 1% from 2004.

According to Clarke's testimony, the 2008 election cycle exposed numerous challenges associated with the voter registration process. Among those challenges were voter purge programs, which led to a substantial number of voters being removed from the rolls, disparate practices among local election officials in processing voter registration forms, varied approaches in implementing the Help America Vote Act's database matching requirements, confusion surrounding registration for persons with felony convictions, efforts to chill voter registration outreach efforts, and non-compliance with the National Voter Registration Act at departments of motor vehicles and other designated state agencies.

"Given these problems, the challenge we now face is determining how to reform and repair the system in a way that will be more inclusive and provide affirmative opportunities for broad and meaningful participation to the millions of eligible but not yet registered citizens throughout our country," said Clarke.

The systemic issues described in Clarke's testimony have a particularly negative effect on Black and other minority voters. It is critical that corrective action be taken in order to ensure that in future elections all those who wish to cast a vote, have an opportunity to do so.

"The future of American democracy is tied to our ability to successfully resolve the persisting barriers to registration that exclude millions of eligible citizens from the ballot box on Election Day," concluded Clarke.