Online Voter Registration
States offering online voter registration and share of registrations completed online, 2010–2024
Forty-three states plus the District of Columbia offered online voter registration by the 2024 election
Online registration reached its highest recorded share of all registration applications in the 2020 presidential election
Only six states offered online voter registration in 2010, eight years after Arizona pioneered the system in 2002
Online registrations nearly tripled as a share of all applications between 2014 and 2016
States Offering Online Voter Registration
Share of Registrations Completed Online
Comparative Dataset
Context
Arizona became the first state to offer online voter registration in 2002, reducing the cost of processing a registration from 83 cents per paper form to roughly 3 cents per electronic submission in Maricopa County. Adoption was slow at first: by 2010, only six states had followed suit. Growth then accelerated, with 14 states offering online registration by 2012, 22 by 2014, and 31 by 2016. As of the 2024 election, 43 states plus the District of Columbia provided online voter registration systems.
The share of voter registrations completed online has varied between presidential and midterm election cycles. Online applications accounted for 6.5% of registrations in 2014, then jumped to 17.4% in 2016 as more states launched their systems and voter awareness grew. The figure dipped slightly to 16% during the 2018 midterms before reaching a peak of 28.2% in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic limited in-person registration options across many jurisdictions. In the 2022 midterms, the online share fell back to 14%, reflecting both lower overall registration volume in non-presidential years and the expanded role of automatic voter registration at motor vehicle offices.
The EAVS data captures registrations by source only in federal election years, which means the dataset does not include odd-year or non-federal elections. Additionally, the growth of automatic voter registration, which accounted for 26.4% of registration transactions by 2024, has shifted the composition of registration methods and may affect how the online share is interpreted over time.
Citations & Data Sources
- 01.
Brennan Center for Justice. Voter Registration in a Digital Age: 2015 Update. Reports 6 states with OVR in 2010, 14 in 2012, and 26 by 2015. Electronic registration available in 27 states by 2015.
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voter-registration-digital-age-2015-update - 02.
National Conference of State Legislatures. Online Voter Registration. Tracks state-by-state OVR adoption and legislative history
www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/online-voter-registration - 03.
U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Data Deep Dive: Election Technology (2018). Reports 37 states plus DC and Guam had implemented OVR by May 2018, with six additional states since 2016
www.eac.gov/news/2018/05/01/data-deep-dive-shows-increase-electronic-poll-books-online-voter-registration-other - 04.
Ballotpedia. Online Voter Registration. Reports 42 states plus DC with OVR as of 2022; 43 states plus DC by September 2024
ballotpedia.org/Online_voter_registration - 05.
Center for Election Innovation & Research. The Expansion of Innovative Voter Registration Methods, 2000–2024. Tracks growth of OVR, same-day registration, and automatic voter registration across states from 2000 to 2024
electioninnovation.org/research/expansion-voter-registration-methods - 06.
U.S. Election Assistance Commission. 2016 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS). Reports online registration was 6.5% of total registrations in 2014 and 17.4% in 2016
www.eac.gov/news/2017/06/29/newly-released-2016-election-administration-and-voting-survey-provides-snapshot - 07.
U.S. Election Assistance Commission. 2018 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS). Reports online voter registration accounted for 16% of registrations in 2018, up 6 percentage points from 2014. OVR allowed in 40 states and territories.
www.eac.gov/news/2019/06/26/eac-releases-2018-election-administration--voting-survey-hosts-election-data-summit-on-capitol-hill - 08.
U.S. Election Assistance Commission. 2020 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS). Reports online registration accounted for 28.2% of voter registration applications in 2020
www.eac.gov/news/2021/08/16/us-election-assistance-commission-releases-2020-election-administration-and-voting - 09.
U.S. Election Assistance Commission. 2022 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS). Reports online registrations accounted for 14% of total registration applications in 2022
www.eac.gov/news/2023/06/29/nations-most-comprehensive-report-2022-midterm-election-administration-and-voting