Potential Cost Savings of Automatic Voter Registration in Nevada

Introduction

More states and local jurisdictions are using technology to help voters register or update their voter information without using paper forms. More than two-thirds of states have implemented online voter registration (OVR), and fourteen states and DC have implemented or authorized the implementation of automatic or automated voter registration (AVR), where eligible citizens are automatically added to voter rolls based on motor vehicle or other government data unless they decline and that information is electronically transmitted to elections officials.^[1]See the National Conference of State Legislatures “Online Voter Registration,” and “Automatic Voter Registration.”

In Nevada, which implemented OVR statewide in 2012, an AVR measure will appear this November 2018 as question 5 on the ballot.

Based on numbers from states that have implemented it so far, AVR has improved the integrity and accuracy of the voter rolls. However, also important are the cost-savings if Nevada moves away from what is still a mostly paper-based voter registration system.

Cost of Voter Registration in Nevada Today

Processing paper voter registration applications is labor intensive. This includes data entry, following up with applicants on missing information or errors on forms, and paying overtime and additional temporary staff to help process applications in a timely fashion before Election Day. Previous research shows that these labor costs are significant.^[2]
See Chapin, Doug, and Kuennen, David. “The Cost (Savings) of Reform: An Analysis of Local Registration-Related Costs and Potential Savings Through Automatic Voter Registration,” March 2017.

In nine Nevada counties representing 92 percent of the state’s registered voter population during the 2016 election cycle, we estimate these labor costs amounted to approximately $1.8 million.

Estimated Labor Cost of Paper-Based Registration in Nevada, 2016 Election Cycle

Notes: Average labor cost estimates are the sum of three component estimates from previous research by Doug Chapin and David Keunnen: the average cost of full-time staff processing applications, the average cost of following up with applicants about missing or erroneous information, and the average cost of temporary staff processing applications. See the methodology section for more detail. Additionally, not included are the more than 140,000 applications the state reported came through its online voter registration system, representing more than 20 percent of all applications.

Estimating the costs of voter registration and potential savings created by moving away from paper-based registration is challenging due to many factors including the wide variation in accounting and data collection across jurisdictions.^[3]Several points on the limitations of this data. It is not based on cost data from Nevada election officials. It is based on survey responses from a previous report on voter registration costs. In … Continue reading

Further research is needed. However, this data and previous research demonstrates how shifting away from paper-based registration could eliminate or at the very least greatly reduce registration-related costs at the state and local level.

Additionally it should be noted what costs this estimate does not include: the printing of voter registration forms, mailings related to duplicate registration entries, costs related to issuing, counting, and notifying voters abut provisional ballots due to registration problems, and the postage of forwarding registration forms to the proper recipient. This means that the costs demonstrated here are likely at the very low end of what Nevada is currently spending on processing voter registration.

While there are short-term costs to AVR implementation, they are minimal in comparison to the long-term savings which could well surpass this initial outlay. AVR allows for the electronic transfer of voter registration information from state agencies such as motor vehicle offices to election agencies. This would eliminate a great deal of data entry, printing, and mailing costs. And as can be seen from the estimated $1.8 million spent on processing paper registration forms in Nevada in the 2016 election cycle, the potential for savings is significant.

Methodology

The methodology and labor cost estimates from this report are taken directly from, “The Cost (Savings) of Reform: An Analysis of Local Registration-Related Costs and Potential Savings Through Automatic Voter Registration,” by Doug Chapin and David Kuennen. The report by Chapin and Kuennen surveyed election officials in local jurisdictions about the labor (as well as other) costs of processing voter registration applications. The pool of jurisdictions surveyed was created using Election Assistance Commission data from the Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) focusing on the three largest, median, and smallest number or registered voters in each state.^[4]This did not include North Dakota because the state does not have voter registration.

For this report, the average labor costs per registration form processed for each sized jurisdiction were then applied to the three largest, median, and smallest counties in Nevada. Jurisdictions in Nevada were not surveyed for this report. For Nevada the largest counties are Clark, Washoe, and Douglas. The median counties are Churchill, Humboldt, and White Pine. The smallest counties are Pershing, Eureka, and Esmeralda.

Total registrations and the number of applications processed data is from section A of the 2016 EAVS related to voter registration including:

• Question A1, total number of persons registered.
• Question A5a, the total number of registration forms jurisdiction received from all sources during the 2016 election cycle.
• Questions A6a – A6o, breaking down the forms received by the source of those forms.

The EAVS provides ten categories of sources of forms: Mail/fax/email; In person; Internet (Online voter registration); Motor vehicle agencies; Public assistance agencies; Disability agencies; Armed forces recruitment offices; Other state agencies; Registration drives; and Other. For the purposes of this report we categorized all forms as paper based except for internet/online voter registration.^[5]See information about the 2016 EAVS dataset, codebook, and survey instrument here: https://www.eac.gov/research-and-data/2016-election-administration-voting-survey.