2024 Senate Resolution 130

Whereas, Accurate voter rolls are critical to the integrity of the elections process. Maintaining accurate records reduces the risk of fraudulent voting, and it can make the task of election administrators easier. The elimination of duplicate registrations reduces the volume of records that election officials are responsible for reviewing, thereby facilitating future efforts at voter roll maintenance; and

Whereas, Reports show that there may be millions of people who are registered to vote in multiple states. For instance, a 2012 Pew study found that around 2.75 million people appeared to be registered to vote in more than one state. More recently, the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program indicated that there were upwards of 7 million potential duplicate registrations in an analysis of voter registration records across 28 states in 2017. And, in 2022, the Electronic Registration Information Center identified over 2.4 million voter registrations in 31 states and the District of Columbia that seemed to be out of date because a voter had moved across state lines. While state election officials regularly work to clean voter rolls of those who have moved away, and some states compare their voter registration lists to identify duplicate registrations, the problem persists; and

Whereas, To efficiently mitigate the problem of duplicate voter registrations, a federal approach is necessary. In 2012, then-U.S. Representative Candice Miller of Michigan introduced the Voter Registration Integrity Act to deal with this issue. Under the legislation, state motor vehicle agencies would have been required to ask driver’s license applicants if they reside or resided in another state, and, if so, ask whether the applicant intends to register to vote in the new state. If the individual intends to register to vote in the state where they are applying for a driver’s license, the state motor vehicle authority would notify the individual’s previous state of residence of the individual’s decision. This bill presents a framework for a smart, national approach to fixing this problem; and

Whereas, This legislation has now been reintroduced in the current session of Congress by U.S. Representative Lisa McClain of Michigan as the Voter Registration Efficiency Act, H.R. 2566. This legislation lays out a process for election officials to be notified when an individual no longer intends for a state to serve as the individual’s residence for voter registration purposes; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate, That we urge the United States Congress to enact the Voter Registration Efficiency Act, H.R. 2566, or similar legislation to create an efficient system to ensure that citizens are not registered to vote in multiple states; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.