Cost of Voting Index

File:Cost_of_Voting_Index_2022_Chart.png

The 2022 iteration of the index has 10 categories with various criteria within each category to measure and rank each state on how easy it is to vote.

The following factors, while not included, also influence the ease and likelihood of voting or voter suppression.

Ballot initiatives often give voters more reasons to go to the polls by offering a straightforward way to streamline their own election process by circumventing the incumbent politicians.{{Cite news |last=Benshoff |first=Laura |date=December 17, 2022 |title=Ballot measures on weed and abortion won in 2022. Now they're fueling a backlash |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/12/15/1142821226/ballot-weed-abortion-won-2022-fueling-backlash |access-date=2022-12-15}}

Ballot length: ballots with dozens and dozens of items to vote on can discourage citizens from doing the difficult research they may feel is required, spending less time researching each race.{{Cite journal |last=Seib |first=J. Drew |date=2016-09-01 |title=Coping with lengthy ballots |journal=Electoral Studies |language=en |volume=43 |pages=115–123 |doi=10.1016/j.electstud.2016.05.011 |issn=0261-3794|doi-access=free }}

Compulsory voting: voting is easier when 90%+ of citizens vote, creating positive cultural norms, establishing voting habits, and having more citizens who can help each other navigate the process.

Election frequency and timing: two-round elections, recall elections, and off-year elections all suppress voter turnout.{{Cite journal |last=Anzia |first=Sarah F. |date=2011-04-01 |title=Election Timing and the Electoral Influence of Interest Groups |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1017/S0022381611000028 |journal=The Journal of Politics |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=412–427 |doi=10.1017/S0022381611000028 |issn=0022-3816|url-access=subscription }}

Gerrymandering can disincentivize voting by artificially making certain races less competitive.{{Cite book |last=Seabrook |first=Nick |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1286675891 |title=One person, one vote : a surprising history of gerrymandering in America |date=2022 |isbn=978-0-593-31586-6 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=1286675891}}

Information accessibility and press freedom: information warfare,{{Cite book |last=Ressa |first=Maria |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1333867107 |title=How to stand up to a dictator: the fight for our future |others=Foreword by Amal Clooney |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-06-325751-1 |edition=First |location=[New York] |oclc=1333867107}} support for public or nonprofit media, and transparency in government operations all influence the ease of voting and trust of voting systems through enhanced election security. 2/3 of U.S. college students cited a lack of information as a reason for why they didn't vote.{{Cite book |last=Rusch |first=Elizabeth |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1124772479 |title=You call this democracy? : how to fix our government and deliver power to the people |date=2020 |isbn=978-0-358-17692-3 |location=Boston |oclc=1124772479}}

Party membership requirements: requiring voters to register with a party makes voting more complex and difficult, especially for those people who don't identify with the party that is likely to win the seat in the general election.

Purges of voter rolls: the act of unregistering voters by sending postcards requiring what amounts to re-registration or employing a 'use it or lose it' approach where after a certain number of elections of not voting, voters are automatically removed from the voter rolls without any evidence that they have moved.{{Cite web |title=Voter Purges {{!}} Brennan Center for Justice |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/voter-purges |access-date=2023-01-08 |website=www.brennancenter.org |date=20 July 2018 |language=en}}

Threats and voter intimidation: Intimidation can result from the presence of cameras or guns at polling places to ballots that may not be secret.{{Cite magazine |last=Newman |first=Lily Hay |date=November 7, 2022 |title=The Secret Ballot Is US Democracy's Last Line of Defense |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/story/secret-ballot-voter-intimidation-2022-us-midterms/ |access-date=2022-12-09 |issn=1059-1028}} Following-through on threats by physically harming or killing people can severely deter voter participation.{{Cite web |last=Roush |first=Wade |title=Truly Secure Voting Is on the Way |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/truly-secure-voting-is-on-the-way/ |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=Scientific American |date=January 2020 |language=en}}

Voter enfranchisement: voting starting at the age of 16 helps the learning process of how to vote, and simplicity with regard to felony enfranchisement also makes voting simpler.

Voter verification: a substantial match standard for signatures on mail-in ballots, for example, makes it less likely for valid votes to be destroyed than in a system with an 'exact match' standard, without any evidence of an increase in fraud.{{Cite book |last=Litt |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1120147424 |title=Democracy in one book or less: how it works, why it doesn't, and why fixing it is easier than you think |date=2020 |isbn=978-0-06-287936-3 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=1120147424}} Many states in the U.S., for example, also allow voters to remedy ballots where the signatures seem too different.{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=David A. |date=2020-10-21 |title=Signed, Sealed, Delivered—Then Discarded |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/signature-matching-is-the-phrenology-of-elections/616790/ |access-date=2023-01-08 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}} Other sources of complications arise from issues in matching data from different databases where discrepancies could arise for lots of reasons for those with the right to vote.{{Cite web |last=Justin Levitt, Wendy R. Weiser, and Ana Muñoz |date=March 24, 2006 |title=Making the List: Database Matching and Verification Processes for Voter Registration |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2019-08/Report_Making-the-List.pdf}}

• State constitutions in the United States
• Votebeat
• Voter fatigue
• Voter suppression
• Voter suppression in the United States
• Voting Rights Lab

{{Reflist}}

• [https://statedemocracy.law.wisc.edu/ State Democracy Research Initiative] by University of Wisconsin Law School

Category:Voting in the United States

Category:Voter suppression

Category:Suffrage

Category:State elections in the United States