Political Participation - Voter Registration

To be eligible to vote, a person must be a citizen of the United States and at least eighteen years of age. In a report to Congress on The Impact of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 on the Administration of Elections for Federal Office 2001–2002, the Federal Election Commission reported that in 2002 there were 215.5 million total citizens eighteen years and older in the United States. Of that number, 168.4 million, or about 78 percent, were registered to vote. However, a significant number of these registrants, 20.6 million, were considered inactive, meaning they had not recently participated in election voting and in many cases had moved to other jurisdictions. (See Table 9.1.) Each state determines for itself how long an individual may remain on the list of registered voters without voting.

Minority groups have traditionally trailed behind whites when it comes to registering to vote and actually voting. In 1993 Congress enacted the Nation Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which became popularly known as the "Motor Voter Act," because it included provisions for driver's license applicants to simultaneously register to vote. According to the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, the NVRA (PL 103-31) was adopted "to enhance voting opportunities for every American and to remove the vestiges of discrimination which have historically resulted in lower voter registration rates of minorities and persons with disabilities. The NVRA has brought new voices to the political process by making it easier for all Americans to exercise their fundamental right to vote."

In 2000, the last year for which detailed demographic statistics are available that examine election participation, there were 144.7 million non-Hispanic white citizens, and of that number, 103.6 million, or 71.6 percent, were registered to vote. Of 22.8 million African-American citizens in 2000, only 15.3 million, or 67.5 percent, were registered to vote. Among the Asian/Pacific Islander (API) population, 2.5 million, or 52.4 percent, of 4.7 million citizens were registered to vote in 2000. Among Hispanics, 7.5 million, or 57.3 percent, of 13.2 million citizens were registered to vote in 2000. (See Table 9.2.)

Minority voter registration habits tend to vary by region. African-Americans in the Midwest are more likely to register to vote than African-Americans in other regions. Approximately 71 percent of African-American citizens in the Midwest were registered to vote in 2000, compared to 64.4 percent in the Northeast, 68 percent in the South, and 62.4 percent in the West. (See Table 9.2.)

In 1966 only 44 percent of minorities who lived in the South were registered (until the late 1960s the U.S. Bureau of the Census did not keep separate statistics for African-Americans), but by 1992, 65 percent of southern African-Americans were registered. This dramatic increase was due, in large part, to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (PL 88-362) and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (PL 89-110). These laws removed voting restrictions and led to often volatile and dangerous voter registration campaigns conducted during the 1960s and 1970s. Before these changes, many southern states enforced poll taxes, charging citizens for the right to vote, knowing that many poor African-Americans could not afford to pay. Some had "grandfather clauses" that permitted voting rights only to those whose grandfathers had been able to vote. Many elderly African-Americans were the grandchildren of slaves who had not been able to vote, so these clauses restricted their rights. Furthermore, since they did not have the right to vote, their own children and grandchildren were also prevented from voting under the grandfather clauses. It took more than laws to open voting

TABLE 9.1
Voting age population (VAP) and voter registration (REG)

	1992	1994	1996	1998	2000	2002
Totals for all states
Total VAP	189,529,000	193,650,000	196,489,000	200,929,000	205,815,000	215,473,000
Total active		129,431,244	142,983,699	140,946,508	149,476,705	147,843,598
% active		66.84%	72.77%	70.15%	72.63%	68.61%
Total inactive		1,652,436	8,138,763	14,640,557	18,274,197	20,596,513
Total REG	133,801,584	130,979,705	151,122,462	156,685,527	167,750,902	168,440,111
% REG	70.60%	67.64%	76.91%	77.98%	81.51%	78.17%
SOURCE: "Table 1. Voting Age Population and Voter Registration," in The Impact of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 on the Administration of Elections for Federal Office 2001–2002, Federal Election Commission, Washington, DC, 2003 [Online] http://www.fec.gov/pages/nvrareport2002/nvrareport2002.pdf [accessed May 4, 2004]

booths to southern African-Americans—it took marches, demonstrations, and the loss of a number of lives.

Roughly 56 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander citizens in the Northeast were registered to vote in 2000, compared to 55.9 percent in the Midwest, 52.3 percent in the South, and 51.5 percent in the West. Among Hispanics, 60.4 percent of citizens in the South were registered to vote in 2000, followed by 57.5 percent in the Midwest, 56.7 percent in the Northeast, and 54.6 percent in the West. (See Table 9.2.)