Will automatic voter registration be the key to increased voter turnout?

It is estimated that among the 5.6 million voting aged citizens living in New York City, only 4.2 million New Yorkers are actively registered to vote – leaving 1.4 million voters missing from the polls, according to a report released by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York at the Democracy in New York Forum.

As major elections loom closer, experts and policymakers at the event sponsored by New Yorkers for Inclusive Democracy in partnership with City & State, discussed strategies to tap into this wealth of voters through automatic voter registration and increased civic engagement among younger, underrepresented communities of color. 

According to keynote speaker John Mollenkopf, distinguished professor, political science, sociology, international migration studies, quantitative methods in the social sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center and one of the authors of the report titled, “The Missing Million,” more than 150,000 unregistered voters in New York City live in group quarters such as dorms, nursing homes and jails. Many tend to be younger, recently immigrated and exhibit lower levels of education, yet numbers don’t significantly vary by race. Hailing from groups often underrepresented in the electoral process, large numbers of unregistered voters are concentrated in low-income communities.

“Campaigns almost inevitably talk to the people who are most likely to go out and vote,” said Mollenkopf. “Without intentionally doing so, they ignore everybody else. So there’s a substantial gap in knowledge about people who could register.” 

While Mollenkopf noted that higher levels of education correlated with increased civic engagement – automatic voter registration may be a potential solution to galvanize voters who may feel alienated from the political process. These models have proven to work in states like Colorado, which since its implementation of enhanced automatic voter registration in 2020 recorded a spike of 600,000 registered voters as of 2025. 

“Interestingly enough, we saw an increase of 700,000 active voters,” said panelist Rosalie Johnson, a former Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles official. “So even though we only increased 600,000 registered voters, which is a lot, we had an increase of an additional 1,000 folks that are now active, that weren't active before, but were registered.” 

Automatic voter registration is an “opt-in” model currently offered in DMVs across New York City, which gives citizens the option to register when getting their driver’s licenses or IDs. However, this model has led to higher risks of confusion, discouraging registration, according to experts.

The enhanced model, which is now being rolled out in Colorado is an “opt-out” model that automatically registers residents with necessary documents at the DMV, giving them additional time to “opt-out” of registering to vote. 

“You can now choose to opt-out if you'd like to, but it takes away that confusion in a kind of a high-pressure situation when they're at a DMV,” continued Johnson. “The good news is, what's being implemented now in New York state with the initial automatic voter registration is all of the same programming and setup that you need to build on for the enhanced automatic voter registration bill that is being reviewed right now.” 

Proponents of the model also claim that automating voter registration will help reduce spending on costly voter engagement initiatives.

“Every registered voter costs about $90-something civic engagement dollars. It is very expensive to fund voter engagement drives,” said panelist Wennie Chin, senior director for civic participation of the New York Immigration Coalition. “Policies like AVR really are cost effective and necessary in this day and age.”

In addition to automating voter registration, significant portions of the population remain disengaged, namely young people, who have been among the least civically engaged across the nation. Through increasing voter registration awareness on college campuses, younger voters can spur higher levels of voter engagement within families, especially of foreign descent. 

According to advocates, face-to-face engagement is still the most effective way to galvanize new voters, especially among communities unfamiliar with the electoral process. For immigrant populations, mediating institutions like community-based organizations can use their standing to bolster civic engagement. 

“Trust is really important in a community when you want to move and talk about various issues,” said John Park, executive director of the MinKwon Center for Community Action/APA Voice. “When a community-based organization does a town hall, it's very different from when an elected official, or another entity does something. Because when we have immigrant populations, they've seen our leadership. If they really know that you're for their community, they'll trust you.” 

While eligible, incarcerated people also tend to be among those least likely to register, let alone vote. The Democracy During Detention Act seeks to change this, by guaranteeing voting access for those detained in local jails. In Ulster County, where a similar initiative has been implemented for the last three years, engagement has been successful among detainees. 

“New York state has again the opportunity to be the golden child of the country,” said panelist Clyanna Lightbourn, campaign director of the Democracy During Detention Campaign. 

“We have the opportunity to set the standard. We believe in democracy. We know that everybody has the right to vote. It is not like a driver's license where you have the privilege, you have the right to vote if you're eligible to vote. And democracy needs to hit every corner of New York State, even the dark ones.”