See Question 11 below for a list of these forms of identification. The chief election official of each State must make mail voter registration applications available for distribution through governmental and private entities, with particular emphasis on making them available for organized voter registration programs.
Most states satisfy these requirements by, among other things, making applications available at local registrar offices, driver license offices, public assistance offices and disability-service offices, to groups doing voter registration drives, and through the internet on the website of the chief election official. These forms are also available on the website of the U. If a person registers to vote by mail and has not previously voted in a federal election in a State, Section b of the Help America Vote Act of established new requirements.
Where a person registers to vote by mail and has not previously voted in a federal election in a State, if the voter does not qualify for one of the exemptions in Section b 3 of HAVA described below , then he or she must submit one of the forms of identification required by Section b 2 A of HAVA the first time that he or she votes in a federal election. These forms of identification are: 1 a current and valid photo identification; or 2 a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter.
If the voter does not present the required identification, Section b 2 B of HAVA provides that he or she may nonetheless cast a provisional ballot.
An applicant who provides the specified identification documents with his or her registration application or otherwise provides such documentation to election officials before Election Day , is exempt from the requirement to show identification the first time he or she votes in a federal election. Any office in a covered State that provides either public assistance or state-funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities must offer voter-registration services.
Armed Forces recruitment offices must also provide voter registration services. In addition, a State must designate other offices in the State as voter-registration agencies. See Question 15 below for a description of these other offices. This also includes state public assistance programs. Offices that provide state-funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities include offices providing vocational rehabilitation, transportation, job training, education counseling, rehabilitation, or independent-living services for persons with disabilities.
Because States vary greatly in the manner in which they provide services to persons with disabilities, each State must identify the specific offices and agencies that fit this definition. In doing so, States may want to consult with offices that deal with issues related to persons with disabilities, such as the protection and advocacy offices and client assistance program offices within that State.
Such other agency designations may include State or local government offices such as public libraries, public schools, State colleges, universities and community colleges, city and county clerks offices, marriage license offices, fishing and hunting license offices, government revenue offices, and unemployment compensation offices. Offices not otherwise covered under the NVRA that provide services to persons with disabilities may also be designated.
In addition, with the agreement of such entities, States may designate as voter-registration agencies nongovernmental offices such as private colleges or Federal government offices. Each office designated as a voter registration agency under Section 7 that provides service or assistance in addition to conducting voter registration must do the following:.
Each office designated under Section 7 that provides services or assistance must distribute to each applicant for services or assistance, and each applicant for recertification, renewal or change of address with respect to such services or assistance, one of the voter registration application forms described in Question 20 below. In addition, each such office also must distribute to each applicant a form, known as an information form, described in Question 21 below.
This form, which may be part of or separate from the voter-registration form, must include the following information:. No information relating to a declination to register to vote may be used for any purpose other than voter registration.
If the information form is separate from the voter-registration form, it is recommended that a statement regarding this non-use of declination information be included on the voter-registration form, as well as a statement that if the applicant registers to vote, information submitted will be used only for voter-registration purposes.
Section 7 agencies must provide to each applicant the same degree of assistance in completing the voter-registration application form as is provided by the office in completing its own agency forms, unless the applicant declines to register to vote or declines such assistance. As an example, if it is the practice of a Section 7 agency for its employees to take time to explain to each applicant the various forms involved in the agency application, recertification or other process and answer applicant questions before the applicant completes the forms, this type of assistance must also be given at that time to such applicants with regard to the voter registration application process.
Offices serving persons with disabilities often offer specialized assistance in completing the agency service or benefit application forms. The NVRA requires that voter registration opportunities be provided with respect to all application, renewal, recertification and change of address transactions regarding service and assistance with Section 7 offices.
Thus, for all such internet transactions, States should advise of the opportunity to register to vote, and should provide some online capability to download or request a voter-registration form. For phone transactions, designated-agency personnel should advise applicants of the opportunity to register to vote and to request a voter registration form. Materials sent by mail to individuals completing phone or internet transactions such as statements confirming a phone transaction, or renewal or change-of-address forms should contain a voter-registration form.
In all such internet, phone, and mail transactions, individuals should be given a toll-free phone number, where possible, to call for information and instruction on how to complete the voter-registration process.
Where feasible, as is done at many motor-vehicle agencies, States may consider providing for a simultaneous voter-registration opportunity through the electronic portal when individuals apply for services or assistance at a designated agency by that means. In addition, where possible, agencies may consider assisting the applicant in registering to vote by automatically filling in appropriate fields on voter-registration applications with information previously provided by the applicant in order to make the registration process easier and more efficient.
The designated agency must submit the completed voter-registration application to the appropriate State or local election official within a prescribed period of time unless the applicant desires to submit it himself or herself. When an applicant submits a completed voter-registration application to an agency, the agency must transmit the form to the appropriate State or local election official within ten days.
However, if the agency receives a completed voter-registration application within five days before the last day to register to vote in an election, the application must be transmitted to the appropriate State or local election official within five days. Section 8 mandates certain action by States concerning the administration of voter registration for elections for federal office.
States must set a voter registration cutoff for federal elections of no more than 30 days before the election. States can set a voter registration deadline for federal elections shorter than 30 days, and a number of States do so, but cannot set a longer deadline.
Section 8 requires State election officials to notify each applicant of the disposition of his or her registration application, e. Where a notice of disposition for a mail voter registration application is sent by by nonforwardable mail and returned as undeliverable, Section 6 of the NVRA provides that local election officials may proceed in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 d of the NVRA see Question 35 below.
Section 8 permits States to remove the name of a person from the voter registration rolls upon the request of the registrant, and, if State law so provides, for mental incapacity or for criminal conviction. The list maintenance program must be uniform, nondiscriminatory and in compliance with the Voting Rights Act. Section 8 of the NVRA prohibits removing registrants from the voter registration list solely because of a failure to vote. It also places restrictions of notice and timing on removals from the voter registration list based on a change of residence.
A registrant advising of a new address within the same jurisdiction, or registering to vote a second time at a new address within the same jurisdiction, should trigger an updating of the original registration, rather than its cancellation. The NVRA does not require any particular process for removing persons who have been disqualified from voting pursuant to State law based upon a criminal conviction or an adjudication of mental incapacity. Moreover, while the NVRA requires States to make reasonable efforts to remove persons who have died, it does not require any particular process for doing so.
States can follow whatever State law process exists for doing this. HAVA provides that list maintenance on the statewide database shall be done on a regular basis in accordance with the requirements of the NVRA. In those States where state law provides for removals from the voter rolls based on mental incapacity or criminal conviction, state laws generally provide for election officials to rely on court determinations to identify the individuals who are subject to removal.
Attorney Offices to forward information regarding felony criminal convictions in federal courts to chief state election officials. In the absence of a written confirmation from a registrant of a change of address outside the jurisdiction, Section 8 d of the NVRA sets forth a process for removing a person based on change of residence.
This process requires sending a forwardable notice, in the form of a postage-prepaid and pre-addressed return card, on which the person may state his or her current address. The jurisdiction may designate the registrant as inactive if the registrant fails to return the card by the voter registration deadline for the next election after the notice is sent. The jurisdiction may remove the registrant from the voter rolls after sending the notice in two circumstances.
First, if the registrant confirms in writing, such as by completing and returning the notice card, that the registrant has changed residence to a place outside the jurisdiction then the registrant can be removed from the list immediately.
Second, if the registrant fails to respond to the notice and fails to vote or to appear to vote in an election beginning on the date the notice is sent and ending on the day after the date of the second federal general election after the notice is sent, then the registrant can be removed from the list after that second federal general election. The NVRA gives one example of a safe harbor procedure.
Under that procedure, States may utilize change-of-address information supplied by the United States Postal Service through its National Change of Address program NCOA to identify registrants who may have changed residences and then take one of two actions.
States do not have to use the NCOA process. Under the NVRA, States must have a general program that makes a reasonable effort to identify and remove the names of voters who have become ineligible to vote by means of a change of address.
The program has to be uniform, non-discriminatory, in compliance with the Voting Rights Act and must be completed 90 days before a federal election. States otherwise have discretion under the NVRA and HAVA in how they design their general program, and States currently undertake a variety of approaches to how they initiate the notice process.
For example, some general programs involve a State undertaking a uniform mailing of a voter registration card, sample ballot, or other election mailing to all voters in a jurisdiction, and then using information obtained from returned non-deliverable mail as the basis for correcting voter registration records for apparent moves within a jurisdiction or for initiating the notice process for apparent moves outside a jurisdiction or non-deliverable mail with no forwarding address noted.
Another example involves general programs where States initiate the notice process based on information showing that a voter has not voted in elections nor made contact with a registrar over some period of time. This is not prohibited by the NVRA and its bar on removing voters from the list solely for failure to vote, since it relies on the NVRA notice process, and thus utilizes both a notice and a waiting period of two federal general elections.
Section 8 requires States to complete any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official list of eligible voters not later than 90 days prior to the date of a primary election or general election for federal office. This 90 day deadline applies to state list maintenance verification activities such as general mailings and door to door canvasses.
The NVRA contains fail-safe provisions to enable such persons who show up to vote on a federal election day to update their registration and to vote in that election even though they have not notified the registrar of the address change:.
A central voting location need not be made available by the registrar if State law allows the person to vote at either the old or new polling place in the current election upon oral or written affirmation of the address change. If a person has not moved, but the registration records indicate that a person has moved from an address covered by a polling place, that person shall be permitted to vote at that polling place upon oral or written affirmation by the registrant that the registrant continues to reside at his or her address previously known to the registrar.
Section 8 of the NVRA requires that States keep and make available for public inspection, for a period of at least two years, all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters, except to the extent that such records relate to a declination to register to vote or to the identity of a voter registration agency through which any particular voter is registered.
The records to be kept shall include lists of the names and addresses of all persons to whom Section 8 d notices are sent, and information concerning whether or not each such person has responded to the notice, as of the date that inspection of the records is made.
In addition, an independent requirement in 52 U. The Department of Justice can require that such records be produced for inspection and copying through a written demand, and a lawsuit to enforce such demand.
The NVRA requires each State to designate a State officer or employee as the chief State election official to be responsible for coordinating State responsibilities under the Act. Because of the importance of monitoring compliance with the NVRA's voter registration requirements, States should consider employing a person at the State level to serve as the NVRA coordinator for the State.
States must report various voter registration information to the U. This includes the number of voter-registration applications by mail and from motor vehicle offices, public-assistance offices, offices providing state-funded programs primarily serving persons with disabilities, Armed Forces recruitment offices, and other state-designated offices and agencies.
Likewise, States must report voter registration list maintenance information in response to the EAC survey every two years. Testing and Certification Program. Chain of Custody Best Practices. Studies and Reports. Navigation items has finished. Press tab to jump out of Main Navigation. Print Email. Which part of the National Form do I need to mail in? What can I do if my registration form is rejected? Can my organization supply just the application and simply provide the instructions separately as hand-outs or on posters?
Is there a limit to the number of applications I can copy? Can my organization mail the completed forms we receive from our registration drive, or do the applicants need to mail them personally?
If we can mail them, do they have to be individually stamped or can they be bundled? Any U. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam do not accept this form. New Hampshire accepts the form only as a request for an absentee ballot. You may also visit www. This proof of identification includes the following or if voting by mail, a COPY of the following : A current and valid photo identification; OR A current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or government document that shows your name and address.
Only the one-page application is needed. Voter registration groups may make as many copies of the National Mail Voter Registration Form as they would like. Furthermore, there is no limit on the number of completed forms a voter registration group may submit to local election offices. However, voter registration groups should endeavor to institute quality control measures to make sure each completed registration application they deliver to their local election offices is filled in completely and legibly.
The number of Voter Registration Forms that a state distributes is usually at the discretion of the state's chief election official. Many states base the number of forms they distribute on the size of the target population of the proposed registration drive, method of distribution, number of individuals registered by the organization in any previous voter registration drive and a number of other variables.
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