By Megan Brenan of Gallup

With less than two weeks to go in the presidential campaign and voting already underway in many states, 76% of U.S. adults favor the concept of early voting. Two other election law policies are supported by even more Americans -- requiring photo identification to vote (84%) and providing proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time (83%).

Smaller majorities of Americans -- 60% each -- favor automatic voter registration, whereby citizens are registered when they do business with state agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, and sending absentee ballot applications to all eligible voters. In contrast, majorities of Americans oppose removing people from voter registration lists if they haven’t voted in any elections in five years (64%) and limiting the number of drop boxes or locations for returning absentee ballots (58%).

Six of the seven election law policies measured in Gallup’s Oct. 1-12 poll were previously included in a July 2022 poll, and the public’s attitudes about all of them are similar now. The measure on views of requiring proof of citizenship for first-time registrants is new this year.

Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia offer early voting, and 36 states request identification of some kind to vote. All states offer voter registration at motor vehicle offices and other state agencies by federal mandate, while about half have implemented automatic registration, under which an interaction with a state government agency results in voter registration unless the person opts out. While states are required by federal law to maintain accurate voter rolls, which includes purging deceased and ineligible voters, implementation is left to the states, as are decisions about drop boxes for voting.

Requiring verification of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections has proven to be a contentious issue. While a handful of states have laws requiring proof of citizenship, they have faced legal challenges. The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in July -- mostly on partisan lines -- that would mandate proof of citizenship, but the U.S. Senate has not voted on it.

Democrats More Likely to Favor Laws Expanding Voting

Partisans’ attitudes about all seven of the election law policies tested diverge significantly, with Democrats more supportive than Republicans of policies that make voting easier and more accessible. Democrats broadly support early voting, sending absentee ballot applications to all voters and automatic voter registration, while far fewer Republicans favor each. Of these three policies, only early voting garners majority-level backing from Republicans -- but at 57%, Republicans’ support is 38 percentage points lower than Democrats’.

Republicans are more supportive of policies that would help ensure ineligible people don’t vote. Republicans nearly unanimously back requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification when voting, but Democrats’ support for each policy is about 30 points lower (though still at the majority level). Smaller majorities of Republicans favor limiting drop boxes (61%) and purging voter rolls after five years of non-voting (51%). No more than one in five Democrats support either of these measures.   

Independents’ views of each policy are on par with the national averages.

Partisans’ views of most of the election law policies are generally stable; however, Democrats’ and Republicans’ opinions have each shifted significantly on one of them. Democrats are now 14 points more likely than they were in 2022 to support requiring photo identification to vote, and Republicans’ current 57% support for early voting -- while not significantly different from 2022 -- is down from 74% in a 2016 survey.

Broader Voter Access Higher Among People of Color

The ability of racial/ethnic minority groups to vote is a central concern of critics of restrictive election laws. People of color (those who identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, Alaska Native, American Indian, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander) are more likely than White adults to support certain policies that aim to increase access to voting, including sending absentee ballot applications to all eligible voters and enacting automatic voter registration.

Meanwhile, White adults are more likely than people of color to support limiting drop boxes, removing people from voter registration lists and requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The two broad racial/ethnic groups hold similar views on early voting and requiring photo identification when voting.

Bottom Line

Majorities of Americans favor a range of election law policies that expand voters’ access to the ballot box, including early voting, automatic voter registration and sending absentee ballot applications to all eligible voters. They also broadly support measures to limit fraud and ensure election integrity, including requiring photo identification to vote and providing proof of citizenship when first registering to vote. The public is much less supportive of two policies that would make it harder to vote, including limiting the number of drop boxes for absentee ballots and purging non-voters from voter registration lists.

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