What We Know and Don't Know About Eligible and Registered Voters in the United States
Population, Age, and Race in Census Surveys and L2 Voter Roll Data
Datos Bibliográficos
| ID | 7168248 |
|---|---|
| Autores | C S Fowler (0000-0001-8415-0441, Department of Geography Penn State University, University Park Pennsylvania USA, autor de correspondencia), Billy Southern (0000-0001-6262-4597, Department of Geography Penn State University, University Park Pennsylvania USA) |
| Año | 2025 |
| Volumen | 106 |
| Número | 5 |
| Fecha de publicación | 2025-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Sí |
| Open Access | Sí |
| Tipo | ARTICLE |
| Revista | Social Science Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Identificadores de la revista | ISSN: 0038-4941 • E-ISSN: 1540-6237 |
| Editorial | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ssqu.70080 |
| OpenAlex | W4414111100 |
| Idioma | EN |
| Referencias citadas | 33 |
Accurate information on who is eligible to vote—and who is registered—is essential to voting rights enforcement, election reporting, and scholarship on political participation. Yet, the data used to measure eligibility and registration vary in important ways based on how the data were collected and for what purpose. This article compares three federal data sources on citizenship and voter registration, alongside state voter roll data aggregated by a private vendor (L2). We assess their strengths and limitations, helping researchers make informed choices. We review existing research on how individual preferences, policies, and politics shape registration rates across geography and demographic groups. We also explain why some uncertainty in counts of eligible and registered voters is unavoidable. Our side‐by‐side comparison reveals striking inconsistencies. The American Community Survey overstates the citizen voting‐age population. The Current Population Survey and L2 voter file counts of registered voters show a very weak correlation across states. Counts for small geographic areas vary widely. Because we are largely unable to disentangle the source of differences we observe, we recommend using multiple data sources. We also call for more attention to how voter rolls are maintained at the local level—key to reducing uncertainty
American Community Survey · Census · Citizenship · Current Population Survey · Race (biology) · Scholarship · Survey data collection · Voter registration · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Media Influence and Politics · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
How, and For Whom, Does Higher Education Increase Voting
The “Rise” of Multiracials? Examining the Growth in Multiracial Identification in the 2020 U.S. Census
Does asking about citizenship increase labor survey non-response
Predicting the Effect of Adding a Citizenship Question to the 2020 Census
Election Day Registration's Effect on U.S. Voter Turnout
Unequal at the starting line
Registrants, Voters, and Turnout Variability Across Neighborhoods
Nonresponse and Mode Effects in Self- and Interviewer-Administered Surveys
Social desirability bias in voter turnout reports
The Social Context of Voter Turnout
Encouraging Local Compliance with Federal Civil Rights Laws
Estimating Voter Registration Deadline Effects with Web Search Data
Improving Ecological Inference by Predicting Individual Ethnicity from Voter Registration Records
Validation
Election Laws, Mobilization, and Turnout
What if Everyone Voted? Simulating the Impact of Increased Turnout in Senate Elections
The Impact of Election Day Registration on Voter Turnout and Election Outcomes
Citizenship Reporting in the American Community Survey
| Velocidad de citación | historical |
|---|---|
| Altamente citado | No |