In 1988, the U.S. had its lowest voter turnout in 40 years. Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act in 1993 to increase registration. While registration has increased, turnout is still low.
In 1988, Americans were going to glam metal concerts, blockbuster movies and the mall in big numbers. But one place nearly half of Americans weren’t frequenting was the voting booth. That year, when George H.W. Bush beat Michael Dukakis in the presidential election, the U.S. had its lowest voter turnout in 40 years. A dismayed Congress decided something needed to be done and in 1993 passed the National Voter Registration Act — also known as the Motor Voter Act .
The idea behind the federal law, which allows people to register to vote when they go to the DMV and other public assistance/state-funded programs or by mail-in application, is that more people would vote if there were fewer barriers to registration. Many states, including California, followed with their own motor-voter laws.But fast forward to today and while registration has steadily increased in the decades since the laws were passed, turnout is still lagging. “Before (California’s Motor Voter law), it was about 25% of the population that was not registere
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