Does "Motor Voter" Work? Evidence from State-Level Data

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 mandates "motor voter" programs in all states prior to the 1996 presidential election. Using state-level registration and turnout data over the 1976-1992 period, this study finds that motor voter programs already implemented in many states have significantly increased participation rates. A duration-based specification of motor voter is employed, to account for the fact that driver's license renewal cycles last up to six years or even more in some states. Dummy-variable specifications are shown to underestimate the eventual impact of motor voter. Models include state dummy variables to control for long-standing differences in participation rates across states that otherwise bias coefficient estimates for registration closing date and other variables. In contrast to motor voter, other provisions required by the NVRA--including mail-in and agency-based registration, and limitations on the purging of voter rolls--show little evidence of effectiveness in the states where they have already been implemented.