Motor Voter Law

The Motor Voter Law is the popular name for the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), signed into law by President Bill Clinton on May 20, 1993, and taking effect for most states on January 1, 1995. Its core purpose is to make voter registration easier and more uniform across federal elections by requiring states to offer registration opportunities through several routine government interactions.

Under the NVRA, states covered by the act must provide voter registration:

• At state motor vehicle agencies, simultaneously with driver's license applications, renewals, or address changes (the "motor voter" provision)
• By mail using a standardized federal form
• At designated public assistance agencies and offices that serve people with disabilities, as well as armed forces recruitment offices

The act also sets rules for list maintenance, restricting when and how states can remove registrants from voter rolls. Voters cannot be purged solely for failing to vote, and notice-and-waiting requirements apply before removal for change of residence.

Not all states are covered. Jurisdictions that, as of August 1, 1994, allowed election-day registration or did not require voter registration at all (including North Dakota, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New Hampshire under specific conditions) are exempt from some or all NVRA requirements.

The Supreme Court has interpreted the NVRA in several cases. In Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (2013), the Court held that Arizona could not require documentary proof of citizenship beyond what the federal form demands. In Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute (2018), the Court upheld Ohio's process of removing voters who failed to respond to a notice and then did not vote in subsequent elections.

The NVRA is enforced primarily by the U.S. Department of Justice and is administered alongside the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), which added further requirements on state registration databases and provisional ballots.