Exclusive: New data shows US lags far behind peers on voting access

The SAVE America Act. A federal crackdown on mail voting. Threats of law enforcement at the polls. 

Right now, it’s hard to imagine a U.S. election system that genuinely encourages and facilitates everyone’s participation. Yet among other high-income countries, this orientation is commonplace. 

Our team systematically analyzed the laws and constitutional provisions governing access to the vote in all 38 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, to assess just how far behind the United States is in realizing the right to vote for all — and what policymakers can do about it.

Our new policy brief, out Tuesday, will distill what we found. But here are some of our key findings, exclusively for Democracy Docket readers:

• The U.S. stands alone among OECD countries in having no nationwide requirements for any of the following pro-voting policies: automatic registration, paid time off to vote, election scheduling on a weekend or public holiday, early in-person voting, standardized poll hours, or widely available postal voting.
• We’re one of just two of the 38 OECD countries to schedule elections on a non-holiday weekday, without providing paid leave for voters.
• Though around half of U.S. states automatically register voters, we’re among the 18% of OECD countries not to do so nationwide.

Overall, our research found that nearly every other wealthy democracy has taken affirmative steps to make voting easy. In the U.S., it all depends on where you live. 

Election scheduling provides one example. Being unable to get off work is one of the most commonly cited barriers to voting in the U.S., especially for lower-wage workers. Two-thirds of OECD countries, by law, schedule their elections for a weekend day or a public holiday. The U.S. is one of just 5 OECD countries to schedule Election Day for a weekday by law. Among the other four — Canada, Israel, Norway and South Korea — three offer paid leave for voting, reducing barriers for the majority of workers.

Automatic registration provides another. Youth, lower-income citizens, and people of color have lower voter registration rates in the US, and practical barriers are a major contributor. Across the OECD, 82% of countries automatically register citizens to vote using existing government records such as civil registries, tax filings or citizenship databases. In the U.S., thanks to the Motor Voter law, roughly half of states have eased the process of voter registration through opt-out systems that use data collected through contact with a government agency, most commonly the DMV. While opt-out approaches have been shown to significantly increase voter registration, impacts vary across states with different policy designs — and half the states have yet to take any approach. 

Still, in some areas, states are on par with the OECD — or even ahead. Nearly every state (with the exception of New Hampshire, Alabama and Mississippi) allows for early in-person voting, as do 61% of OECD countries. All 50 states and Washington, D.C., also permit mail-in voting in at least some circumstances, which aligns with 82% of the OECD. Yet no national law guarantees widespread access to either, and last month’s Executive Order aims to sharply limit the availability of mail-in voting options. Already, 13 states — nearly all in the South — only permit mail-in ballots for voters with a documented excuse, such as a medical emergency. 

Altogether, the U.S. stands alone among OECD countries in having no nationwide protections for automatic registration, paid time off to vote, election scheduling on a weekend or public holiday, early in-person voting, standardized poll hours, or widely available postal voting. These gaps help explain why our voter turnout is so much lower than peer countries and varies so much across states. Indeed, our analysis found that among the OECD countries that have adopted at least two approaches to making it easier for registered voters to vote, turnout in parliamentary elections is substantially higher: 82%, on average, compared to 68% among countries with one or no approaches. 

To be sure, the American system of election administration differs from that of some of our peer countries. The U.S. Constitution largely delegates authority over elections to the states, offering important safeguards against federal overreach in an era of rising authoritarianism. At the same time, Congress has the authority to remove barriers to voting across states — including by making Election Day a public holiday, making mail-in voting universal, and making near-automatic registration a reality nationwide. Indeed, federal bills that would implement each one of these reforms have been introduced within the last five years. 

Making it easier for more eligible voters to participate in elections should not be a partisan issue. A true democracy depends on every citizen having a voice, and nearly all Americans agree that voting is an “essential right.” In the near term, states have the power to reduce needless barriers to voting. In the long term, Congressional action to create more equitable standards for access to the vote across the country is essential to reducing gaps in voter registration and turnout that are tied to where citizens live.

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Aleta Sprague is the Cofounder and Principal of Legal Analysis at Equal Futures.

Amy Raub is the Cofounder and Principal of Research at Equal Futures.

Nicholas Perry is the Cofounder and Principal of Partnerships at Equal Futures.