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Report: Voter Registration Drops More Than 50% In Key Election States

U.S. Citizens Head To The Polls To Vote In Presidential Election

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Varun Hukeri General Assignment & Analysis Reporter
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A report published Thursday by the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR) revealed that voter registration has dropped significantly amid the coronavirus pandemic, with key election states seeing the number of new voters drop by more than half compared to the last national election cycle.

The report looked at a sample of 11 states and D.C. and found that in the first four months of 2020, the number of new voters plummeted nearly 70% when compared to the first four months of 2016.

The numbers started to decline in March, after states began enforcing social distancing requirements and stay-at-home orders, before virtually halting in April, according to USA Today.

An election observer cleans voting booths during a Democratic presidential primary election at the Kenosha Bible Church gym in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on April 7, 2020. - Americans in Wisconsin began casting ballots Tuesday in a controversial presidential primary held despite a state-wide stay-at-home order and concern that the election could expose thousands of voters and poll workers to the coronavirus. Democratic officials had sought to postpone the election but were overruled by the top state court, and the US Supreme Court stepped in to bar an extension of voting by mail that would have allowed more people to cast ballots without going to polling stations. Both courts have conservative majorities. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP) (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

An election observer cleans voting booths during the Wisconsin primary election (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

Key avenues for voter registration, including DMV offices and third-party registration drives, have been shuttered due to the coronavirus. DMV closures in particular contributed to the huge drop in voter registration, The Hill reported.

Presidential swing states like Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia all saw voter registration drop by at least 50% due to the coronavirus. California, a Democratic stronghold and Texas, a traditionally Republican state that Democrats are eyeing for 2020, both saw registration fall by around 75%.

The report expressed concern that a decline in voter registration would create problems for this year’s elections. “The steep decline in new registrations may prove to be a sizable obstacle to what was set, pre-pandemic, to be a record election for turnout,” the report stated.

Election workers sort vote-by-mail ballots for the presidential primary at King County Elections in Renton, Washington on March 10, 2020. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)

Election workers sort mail-in ballots for the Washington state primary election, a process that has become more widely used despite concerns of voter fraud (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)

A number of states have opted to use a mail-in voting process for this year’s primary elections. President Donald Trump, however, has expressed his opposition to these changes due to concerns over voter fraud. (RELATED: RNC Survey: Majority Of Voters Believe Mail-In Ballots Cause Election Fraud)

The use of absentee ballots, for example, has led to several issues around the country, such as when South Carolina ballots were distributed in Baltimore for an election in Maryland.

CEIR director David Becker stated that engaging with potential voters should be a top priority for both Republicans and Democrats, especially as social distancing rules and bans on large gatherings disrupt the election process, USA Today reported. “Other efforts to register voters are going to be more important than ever,” he said.