GOTV - Part 6 - The Role of Voter Registration

by: Grebner

Fri Dec 10, 2010 at 22:01:46 PM EST

Nothing is more misunderstood in Michigan politics than the potential role of voter registration.  We have ignored the opportunity created by changes in state law that occurred 15 years ago.  And we don't understand why people fail to register, so the efforts we do make are mostly wasted.

Until 1996, when private citizens registered voters in Michigan, they were acting as agents of government, under the law that existed at the time.  Voter registration wasn't a part of campaigning, it was almost the opposite of it:  it was illegal to discuss politics or hand literature to a person who was approached about registering.  While you were acting as a "voter registrar", you stopped being a member of either team, and acted as a neutral observer, like an umpire, or the Red Cross.  As a result of changes to federal law, which created what was called a "mail-in form", Michigan abolished its voter registrar system, and we suddenly became free to use voter registration as a partisan tool.  This should have been a big deal, but apparently nobody told the campaigns or the political parties, which have ignored the change.

Each fall, on the M.S.U. campus, we approach each student and ask which party they identify with.  If they answer that they're Democrats (or answer a follow-up question correctly) we pull out a pre-printed registration form for their signature.  If they answer "Republican", we apologize for intruding and move on.  Twenty years ago, that conduct would have been literally criminal;  why do our campaigns continue as if it still were?  Any door-to-door effort conducted before the cutoff (28 or 29 days before the election, depending on where Columbus Day falls) ought to include registration as at least a minor component.  When you knock at a door, you discover they've just moved in, or one of the kids is about to turn 18 - so you help them fill out the form and submit it for them, partly to increase their chance of turning out, but partly as a "persuasion" tool, ingratiating the candidate to them.  But that tactic is virtually unheard of in Michigan.

There's a second misunderstanding of voter registration, which is almost as important as the first: why people are unregistered.  There's a myth that people choose not to register to vote for ideological reasons; that's complete nonsense.  In Michigan, if you have a drivers license, you're very likely registered to vote at the same address as shown on the license.  (For this entire discussion, whenever I refer to drivers licenses, I mean to include State IDs, which are handled almost exactly the same.)  

When you obtain a drivers license, renew it, or change the address shown, you'll almost inevitably register to vote or update your registration at the same time.  That's not by choice, but by Secretary of State policy.  They almost refuse to allow you to leave without registering; even if you try not to update your registration, and refuse to sign the offered form, they will process the change.  I have never done an actual study, but I'd be surprised if there were many citizens over 21 who have drivers licenses who are NOT registered to vote - you'd have to be pretty persistent to accomplish it.

[One problematic sub-group deserves mention: people between 18 and 20 years old.  State law is badly written (by the Republicans) so that teenagers are unable to register when most of them first obtain a drivers license, and there is generally no reason for them to appear at a Secretary of State office again until they turn 21, when they come to get their "grown-up" license.  As a result, 18-20 year olds are often NOT registered, unless somebody makes a special effort to reach them.]

Partisan door-to-door voter registration drives are very simple in concept.  You knock at a door, and you compare the residents you meet with a list of people registered at that address:  

• Each person you find who matches your list is treated as a confirmation - some of them will actually not know they registered - which increases their chance of vote, and which can serve as the lead in to a discussion of whatever agenda you're pushing.
• Each person who doesn't match the list for that address, but is found registered somewhere else is updated, by completing a registration form.  Michigan has well over 7 million names on its voter rolls, but over two million of those are at outdated addresses.  Those people are "registered" but there's almost no chance they'll actually cast ballots unless somebody corrects their status for them.  This group is predominantly renters, often with shaky credit and highly transient.  They often pay little attention to politics, but they're certainly not disposed to support Republicans, if they vote.  Their turnout probability is greatly improved by being contacted a month before the election, and receiving a new voter registration card in them mail (automatically generated when you turn in the completed form to the local Clerk).
• People who are NOT registered to vote - whether because they're 18-20, newly arrived from out-of-state, or somehow escaped the system - are registered.  In many cases, you'll find a household consists of both registered and unregistered individuals.  There's very little mom can do about her teenager to get them registered if they won't take the trouble to take care of it.  But with you at the door, asking about the presence of unregistered kids, you may find mom is glad you came by and sees you as an ally.

This kind of canvass is not done "blind"; it relies on accurate walking lists and fairly complex scripts.  If the household is believed to be Republican, you skip it.  If their politics are unknown, the contact starts with an effort to ID them - just as we do on the M.S.U. campus.  If you're in an overwhelmingly Democratic area, or you have previous a Democratic ID for them, you just proceed as if you know you're among friends.  

The pace is pretty slow - five households per hour would be impressive.  If the only goal is to be able to say you have covered a precinct, it's a lot faster to slip a flyer into the screen door.