When it comes to voting for Americans, three things are certain: Americans strongly support requiring a photo ID to vote, proving citizenship when voting for the first time, and continuing the early voting process.
- 84% of US adults support requiring photo ID to vote (including majorities of Republicans, independents and Democrats)
- 83% of US adults support requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote (including majorities of Republicans, independents and Democrats)
Minnesota, of course, fully endorses early voting which typically starts 45 days before Election Day, but Gov. Walz and DFL lawmakers have done nothing to ensure election integrity with the aforementioned simple measures.
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Americans Endorse Both Early Voting and Voter Verification
Smaller majorities favor automatic voter registration and sending absentee ballot applications to all citizens
WASHINGTON, D.C. — 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.
