If you’ve ever thought that early voter registration deadlines are arbitrary and lead to lower election turnout, it turns out you’re right.

Most states impose voter registration deadlines several weeks or months before November polling day to make registration more manageable and prevent voter fraud. But the early deadlines also lead to lower turnout, studies show. In the few states that allow residents to register at the polls on Election Day, turnout was higher by an average of 12 percent, according to the election reform advocacy group Demos.

That’s nothing to sneeze at. A 12 percent increase in voter participation across the U.S. would mean some 10 million more ballots cast, based on 2004 turnout. Those are mandate-creating kinds of numbers, and it has election reform groups and politicians taking notice.

Registering to vote where and when you cast your ballot makes a lot of sense. Though there are technical and security challenges to overcome, it has the elements of an elegant solution to a fundamental problem. Voters know what to expect.

Nine states currently allow election residents to register at the polls: Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and North Carolina (though NC only allows same day registration at early voting sites). Others are debating the wisdom and practicality of opening up election day registration.

Massachusetts is one of the states where opponents and supporters have been in pitched battle. According to MassVote, a voters’ rights advocacy organization, if Massachusetts authorized Election Day Registration (EDR), an estimated 225,000 more people would vote.

“It’s the ultimate protection for every citizen’s right to vote,” Avi Green, executive director of MassVote, told the Boston Globe.

"We think this would have a strong effect, with a particular emphasis on low-income folks, African-American and Latino voters," he said in a later interview.

Advocates of the same-day registration contend that young Americans, who’ve never voted before, and lower income residents, who tend to move more often, are not aware of registration deadlines. They say EDR ensures that nobody is disenfranchised because they do not register on time. 

"What we are talking about here is a fundamental right to vote," Mike Ferrari, chief of staff for state Senator Edward M. Augustus Jr. of Worcester told the Boston Globe. "We are talking about citizens who are otherwise informed about an election, but who have missed an arbitrary deadline, not having to be shut out of the political process."

But other government officials and residents disagree with election day registration.

“At some point, I think people need to take responsibility to register properly because we don't have the manpower," Melrose City Clerk Mary-Rita O'Shea told the Boston Globe.

O’Shea is among many clerks within the state who worry that initiating EDR will create more problems at the polls on Election Day and could potentially increase instances of voter fraud.

"I'm not in favor of same-day registration," Gloucester City Clerk Robert D. Whynott told the Boston Globe. "I just think it leaves too much open for abuse. It's going to make it chaotic. It's going to cost a lot of money. Election Day will be a zoo."

But MassVote insists that the state has enough money to fund EDR and reports of voter fraud in other EDR states are few and far between.

"In a state that ranks with Alabama and Mississippi in terms of contested elections and in a state in which I think we can readily validate someone's residence and citizenship, anything we can do to increase voter participation we should do," state Representative Douglas W. Petersen of Marblehead told the Boston Globe.

And politicians from across the country agree that EDR has the potential to increase turnout rates, especially those who’ve seen it work first hand.

"For over 33 years, Minnesota's same day registration law has helped produce the highest voter turnout of any state," Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar said in a press statement. "Same day registration works, it encourages people to be engaged and interested in the issues facing our country.”

Iowa Governor Chet Culver also supports EDR. “Here in Iowa , we want to make it as easy as possible for Iowans to be involved in the democratic process,” Culver said. “This bill achieves this goal. I strongly believe getting more people to vote is good for democracy and good for the future of this state.”

In 2006, Montana state election officials prepared themselves for a somewhat higher turnout rate---the state had recently enacted a law enabling residents to register on Election Day at the county elections office. However, officials thought that also introducing a late registration period, which allowed residents to register after the initial 30-day cutoff, might help mitigate any complications of overcrowding at the polls on Election Day.

“Turnout caught us off guard, to be honest,” Elaine Gravely, a state election director, told electiononline.org. “We had almost 4,000 people on election day in Montana. And we’re a state with a small population. It created real havoc for election administrators in the state. One county had people voting in line at midnight.”

But other Montanans saw beyond the headaches and 20 minute lines. Overall, the late registration period and Election Day registration (EDR) process led to almost 7,500 more residents casting their ballots in 2006, a mid-term election year.

Across the country in 2006, almost 750,000 votes were cast by people who registered on Election Day.

“As often happens with elections, Montanans became motivated and engaged in the closing days in the 2006 campaign,” former Montana secretary of state Mark Cooney wrote in an editorial. Same-day registration “opened the door for thousands of citizens to exercise their most basic democratic right.”

Still, calls for enacting Election Day Registration have failed in states like Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas. Officials in those states are weary of adopting a process that they say causes problems for poll workers, costs money, and lends itself to voter fraud.

In Montana, most officials agree that Election Day registration will be around for awhile.
“EDR was a resounding success terms of providing access to voting,” said Sarah Busey, of the League of Woman Voters of Montana, on electiononline.org. “The push for curtailing EDR is coming from the clerks and recorders who weren’t prepared for the rush….We feel this is a problem easily overcome with proper preparation.”