New Pew Poll Demonstrates What Voters Do – and Don't – Know About Election Policy

[Image courtesy of jankyvision]

Pew’s latest Election Data Dispatch brings news of a new opinion poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and the Mellman Group that asked 1,001 registered voters nationwide what they knew about the election rules in their state. The survey found that

[M]any voters are not well-informed about election policies. Early voting is the area in which survey respondents demonstrated the most accurate knowledge. Of particular note, voters in states that allow Election Day registration knew more about their registration options than those in states that do not allow it.

Among registered voters living in states with early voting:

+ 11 percent did not realize that their state offered the option of voting early.
+ 11 percent were unsure whether early voting was available in their state.

Among registered voters living in states where no excuse is necessary to request an absentee ballot:

+ 10 percent believed that they would need to provide an excuse to vote absentee.
+ 30 percent did not know whether no-excuse absentee voting was allowed in their state.

In states that allow citizens to register and vote at the polls on Election Day:

+ 16 percent believed their state did not allow Election Day registration.
+ 14 percent did not know whether Election Day registration was offered in their state.

In states that do not allow voters to register on Election Day:

+ 26 percent thought that they could register and vote on Election Day.
+ 30 percent did not know whether Election Day registration was allowed.

[The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.]

This data suggests a few things that the elections field should keep in mind:

1. Citizens simply don’t pay as close attention to the details of elections as election officials think they do – or wish they might;
2. That lack of understanding is almost certainly an important factor in some election problems on or before Election Day; and
3. Election officials can’t always assume that voters will turn to them for answers as opposed to the media, campaigns or other voices.

To some degree, these are the kinds of things that students should be learning in their civics classes, but for those who don’t – and for the rest of us for whom our school years (let alone civics) are a distant memory – these numbers indicate that the election field needs to make the voting process as simple and straightforward as possible. In other words, the system needs to mirror how voters conduct their lives now so that voting offers a familiar experience with less room for misunderstanding or error.

That’s easier said than done, I know, but it’s vitally important in an environment where even regular voters don’t necessarily remember much more than how they did it last time.

Thanks to Pew for this fascinating study – it’s a useful reminder that one reason election officials sweat the details so much is that voters don’t usually do the same.