Pew: Why Are Millions of Citizens Not Registered to Vote?

[Virginiá]

A survey of the civically unengaged finds they lack interest, but outreach opportunities exist

http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2017/06/why-are-millions-of-citizens-not-registered-to-vote

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I do think this shows that despite a lot of disinterest among non-registered citizens, solutions like same-day voter registration and automatic voter registration combined with some type of all-mail voting system could increase turnout notably by removing the registration barrier for those who find themselves too busy or simply forget / don't know how. The addition of delivering a mail-in ballot to them automatically like Oregon/Colorado would also make a significant difference.

Anyway, this was a decent article, and my selections above only covered some highlights, so I would recommend giving it a read.

[Virginiá]

Anecdotal but I was never asked to register to vote at my local DMV or from anyone else in life. I even come from a very political family and willingly chose to register to vote when I got my drivers license at 18.

Are they supposed to ask? I know they have to give you the opportunity at DMVs due to federal law, but I'm not sure if they are required to actually ask you. I know I was never asked here in Florida. It's also not that uncommon for state motor vehicle agencies to have been sued to force compliance with these laws - Nevada, Connecticut and Texas were in the past couple years and had to change up their procedures. Georgia's recent adoption of automatic voter registration was due to a lawsuit about non-compliance as well, irrc.

FWIW, California voter laws now are very liberal. Same-day + auto reg, pre-registration for 16 & 17 year olds and ample registration opportunities for students. I don't really think there is anything more they can do, short of doing away with voter registration altogether a la North Dakota.

[Virginiá]

My overall point is that political apathy is very real in this country. I can't think of a single instance where I felt encouraged let alone obligated to register to vote; not even from my hyper-political family. I don't think my experience is unique either. A lot of people simply don't care about politics or feel that the system is "rigged" and not worth participating in.

They feel it's either not worth it or that politics doesn't affect them.

This is where I gently suggest the idea of Aussie-style mandatory voting