Registration systems
Most states use a statewide voter registration database with local officials maintaining the records. Registration methods vary widely — online, by mail, at motor vehicle agencies, and in some states at the polling place on election day.
List maintenance is legally required and politically contested. Officials must remove voters who have died, moved out of jurisdiction, or become ineligible, while federal law restricts how and when removals may occur, particularly close to a federal election. Both an inaccurate list and an over-aggressive purge are failures of the same duty.
