The National Voter Registration Act of 1993: Debunking States' Rights Resistance and the Pretense of Voter Fraud
![handle is hein.journals/tempcr6 and id is 125 raw text is: THE NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION ACT OF 1993:
DEBUNKING STATES' RIGHTS RESISTANCE AND
THE PRETENSE OF VOTER FRAUD
I don't believe in making it easy for apathetic, lazy people. I'd
be extremely happy if nobody in the United States voted except for
the people who thought about the issues and made up their own
minds and wanted to vote. No one else who votes is going to
contribute anything but statistics, and I don't care that much for
statistics.
- Senator Sam Ervin'
INTRODUCTION
Why does the United States rank among the lowest of Western, industri-
alized democracies in voter participation?2 Is there an implicit conflict of
interest in placing the power to register voters in the hands of those who are
in power?3 Are people lazy and apathetic? Is there such a high level of
disenchantment with the political process that voters are simply waiving their
right to vote? Do the residual effects of discriminatory voting registration
laws and the localized control of voter registration systems keep historically
disenfranchised groups outside the voting process? Is low voter participation
due to the voter registration system failing to ensure that those voters who
meet voting eligibility requirements are systemically registered to vote?
Whatever the cause of low voter participation, the fact remains that the
United States lags behind other industrialized nations in registering eligible
voters. This begs the question: does increasing the number of registered vot-
ers translate into greater voter participation?
In the United States, voter turnout is measured as a percentage of eligi-
ble voters, whereas European countries measure voter turnout as a percent-
age of registered voters.4 When comparing the participation in elections of
registered voters in the United States and Europe, the participation levels in
the United States compare favorably with those of Europe.5 In the United
States approximately sixty percent of eligible voters are registered, and more
1. ARTHUR T. HADLEY, Tim EMTyr POLLING BOOTH 105 (1978) (quoting the late Senator
Sam Ervin).
2. FRANCIS PIVEN & RIcHARD CLOWARD, WHY AMERICANS DON'T VOTE 5,19 (1989) (de-
termining that top three democratic nations with voter turnout are Belgium, Australia and Aus-
tria; the United States ranks 23rd).
3. William Rasberry, Jackson's Action Plan for Dukakis, WASH. POST, Sept. 16, 1988, at
A27 (quoting the Reverend Jesse Jackson) (expanding the size of the electorate creates a new
equation that is threatening to those who favor the status quo).
4. Id. (noting that most European countries have a universal suffrage system).
5. Id. at 19.
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The National Voter Registration Act of 1993: Debunking States' Rights Resistance and the Pretense of Voter Fraud
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