Background

Efforts to establish a national voter registration system followed closely on the heels of passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. H.R. On May 20, 1993, President Clinton signed the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 into law ( P.L. 103-31 [42 U.S.C. §1973gg et seq.]). ]), the so-called "motor-voter" law, required that, for federal elections, states must establish procedures so that eligible citizens may register to vote:
"(1) by application made simultaneously with an application for a motor vehicle driver's license ... ;
(2) by mail application ... ; and
(3) by application in person (A) at the appropriate registration site designated with respect to the residence of the applicant in accordance with state law; and (B) at a federal, state, or nongovernmental office designated under Section 7 (required for state agencies providing public assistance and agencies primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities)." 103-31 argued that by making it easier to register eligible citizens, the law would not only increase the number of persons who were registered to vote but also would encourage more voter turnout. Opponents, on the other hand, argued that there was very little evidence that voter turnout would increase even if voter registration increased. Even after being in effect for 18 years, however, there are few cost estimates for the NVRA. 107-252 ). However, proposals were suggested to amend the NVRA to make it easier to administer and prevent election fraud. Additionally, one bill, the Voter Empowerment Act of 2012 ( H.R. 289 [ H.R. 2115 [ H.R. Concluding Observations

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 has been the law of the land for over 20 years and has been in effect for 18 years. The courts have resolved many of the initial issues. A review of the FEC/EAC reports appears to indicate that the states have come to terms with the provisions, despite the fact that state election officials continue to advocate that the federal government should provide funding for the implementation of aspects of the act. There may still be some problems with implementation at the local levels and with the training of nonelection officials who are responsible under the NVRA for providing voter registration services. As noted above, some opponents would like to curtail parts of the NVRA; proponents, however, do not think the NVRA has gone far enough. H.R. The efforts culminated in the passage of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) ( P.L. HAVA addressed voter registration in four areas:
(1) it created the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and transferred FEC's responsibilities with respect to NVRA to EAC (§201; §202; §209; §803), specifically with respect to the development and maintenance of the federal mail voter registration form (§303(b)(4)) and the biennial reports on the impact of the NVRA; 
(2) it specified that each state "shall implement, in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner, a single, uniform, official, centralized, interactive computerized statewide voter registration list defined, maintained, and administered at the State level that contains the name and registration information of every legally registered voter in the State and assigns a unique identifier to each legally registered voter in the State" (§303(a)(1)(A)) and "perform list maintenance with respect to the computerized list on a regular basis" in accordance with the provisions of NVRA (§303(a)(2)); 
(3) it required the use of the driver's license number or the last four digits of the social security number of the applicant on all voter registration applications (§303(a)(5)(A)), as well as requiring that the Social Security Administration develop relationships with the departments of motor vehicles in each state to assist in list verification (§303(a)(5)(B); and,
(4) it expanded the "fail safe voting" provisions of NVRA to provisional voting (§303(a)(5)(A)-(B)). 2318, [42 U.S.C.A. [42 U.S.C.
After the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. §1973–1973aa-6), legislation had been urged for over two decades that would create a national voter registration system designed to make registration easier and more uniform from state to state. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA, P.L. 103-31, 107 Stat.77, [42 U.S.C. §1973gg et seq.]), the so-called "motor-voter" bill, was signed into law by President Clinton on May 20, 1993. It required states to establish voter registration procedures for federal elections so that eligible citizens might apply to register to vote (1) simultaneously while applying for a driver's license, (2) by mail, and (3) at selected state and local offices that serve the public. The law took effect on January 1, 1995, for most states.
Proponents argued that the NVRA would make it easier to register to vote, provide more-than-adequate measures to prevent voter fraud by making violations a federal offense, and cost states very little to implement, based on the experiences of states that previously used some form of "motor-voter" registration.
Opponents, on the other hand, argued that there was little evidence that increasing the number of persons on voter registration rolls would lead to higher voter turnout. By making it so easy to register, they believed the act would increase the likelihood of election fraud. Furthermore, according to opponents, implementation would be costly to the states, in terms both of dollars and other administrative costs.
The NVRA has been the law of the land for over 20 years and has been in effect for 18 years. Between 1992 and 2012, voter registration increased nationally by over seven percentage points. The courts have resolved many of the initial issues. A review of the required NVRA reports appears to indicate that the states have come to terms with the provisions, despite the fact that they would still like the federal government to provide funding for the implementation of aspects of the act. While amending parts of the NVRA in minor ways, the Help America Vote Act, passed in 2002, also created additional voter registration demands on the states (HAVA, P.L. 107-252 [42 U.S.C., Subchapter III, Part A., §15482(a), 15483]).
However, there are still some problems with implementation at the local levels and in some selected state agencies, as well as with the training of non-election officials who are responsible under the NVRA for providing voter registration services. Some would like to curtail parts of the NVRA. Some do not think the NVRA has gone far enough. Proposed legislation introduced in the 113th Congress to deal with various aspects of the voter registration process includes, among others, H.R. 12, H.R. 97, H.R. 280, H.R. 289, and H.R. 2115. This report provides an historical background for voter registration reform and the NVRA, a description of the major aspects of the act, a discussion of the implementation and post-implementation actions, and a catalog of subsequent efforts to amend or repeal the act. It will be updated as needed.