Reported and Validated Voter Registration

Abstract

This research article assessed the validity of self-reports of registration status using the Survey Research Center-Center for Political Studies (SRC-CPS) vote validation studies. Overall, reported registration rates exceeded validated registration rates by approximately 5%. However, approximately 15% of all reports of registration status were in error. Unlike turnout, misreporters of registration status fell into two different types: those who reported being registered when they were not, and those who failed to report being registered when they were. The correlates of registration, however, were largely unaffected by whether registration was measured with reported or validated data. Race posed the only exception to this generalization. The reported data underestimated racial differences in registration rates and the degree to which black registration trailed that of whites.