Preregistration Tied to Low Vote Turnout

WASHINGTON — The nation’s low voter turnout--among the lowest in the world--is partly due to a system that forces citizens to register before they may vote, a study released Friday said.

The 18-month study, funded by the Ford Foundation, concluded that, if registration rules were changed, more than 6 million additional people might vote.

Curtis Gans, who directed the study, said that the system makes voting a two-step process by forcing voters to register, and that it therefore discourages them from voting.

Gans said the United States has the lowest voter turnout in the world in its congressional elections every two years, matched only occasionally by India and Switzerland.

“These figures are, in and of themselves, both appalling and embarrassing,” the study said. “They serve to illustrate what may be a growing crisis for American democracy.”