2008 General Election Voter Registration Statistics

Last Updated: 3/6/09

Courtesy of the Associated Press Elections Research and Quality Control Group, here are their final compilation of the 2008 general election voter registration statistics.

In 2008, the nation experienced a 5.4% increase in registration over 2004, from 177.4 million to 187.0 million registrants. Statistics from the twenty-nine states that have partisan voter registration suggest that the national increase came primarily from Independents and Democrats. Among these twenty-nine states, the number of registrants identifying with the Democratic Party increased 10.8%, compared to 0.5% for Republicans and 12.0% for Independents.

To provide some perspective of limited value of these statistics, I express these numbers as a percent of the 2008 voting-eligible population or VEP. I caution drawing too much from these percentages since voter registration numbers are susceptible to what is termed "deadwood" - persons who no longer live at an address but remain on the voter registration files. As a consequence, some states' total registration as a percentage of the voting-eligible population is greater than 100%. As another consequence of deadwood, I note in a 2004 Brookings report that the percentage of persons reporting being registered to vote is much lower than the VEP registration rate.

States and localities may remove or "purge" names on the voter registration roles per provisions found in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as "Motor Voter." Procedures for purging deadwood vary from state to state and vary over time. More recently, some jurisdictions have matched records across various databases and used this information to remove names. A National Academy of Sciences report cautions against the existence of a match as proof that a person is indeed a matched person. This report graciously cites an Election Law Journal article by myself (Michael McDonald) and Justin Levitt on this issue. For further information, please see the Brennan Center's excellent report, Making the List.

It is for these reasons that I do not calculate turnout rates as a percentage of voter registration, even though many state and local government elections webpages do so. Since I admire the hard work of election administrators, I want to stress that voter registration turnout rates may be useful for their planning purposes. They are just not a good measure of voter participation due to deadwood and purging issues.

Note that North Dakota does not have voter registration, so the Associated Press assumes all persons of voting age are registered in that state. The North Dakota numbers reported here are slightly lower than the Associated Press' numbers since I remove from the state's voting-age population persons who are ineligible to vote, such as non-citizens and felons. The national numbers are also revised to reflect this change for North Dakota.

State	VEP 2008 Voter Registration Rate	2008 Total Voter Registration	Voting Eligible Population	2002 Total Voter Registration	2004 Total Voter Registration	2006 Total Voter Registration	Change '02 to '04	Change '04 to '06	Change '06 to '08	Change '04 to '08
United States	87.9%	186,983,927	212,720,027	165,182,673	177,423,549	174,849,216	7.4%	-1.5%	6.9%	5.4%
Alabama	88.6%	3,010,638	3,398,289	2,618,433	2,842,985	2,713,493	8.6%	-4.6%	11.0%	5.9%
Alaska	103.8%	495,731	477,763	458,217	474,740	467,414	3.6%	-1.5%	6.1%	4.4%
Arizona	84.0%	3,441,141	4,096,006	2,704,917	2,896,748	3,061,540	7.1%	5.7%	12.4%	18.8%
Arkansas	82.8%	1,684,240	2,033,146	1,579,254	1,686,124	1,615,271	6.8%	-4.2%	4.3%	-0.1%
California	78.7%	17,304,091	21,993,429	15,303,469	16,557,273	15,837,108	8.2%	-4.3%	9.3%	4.5%
Colorado	93.3%	3,210,258	3,441,907	3,093,969	3,114,566	2,975,845	0.7%	-4.5%	7.9%	3.1%
Connecticut	85.3%	2,091,980	2,451,296	1,995,684	2,012,709	2,046,487	0.9%	1.7%	2.2%	3.9%
Delaware	96.6%	601,348	622,664	519,727	550,984	557,703	6.0%	1.2%	7.8%	9.1%
District of Columbia	97.4%	426,761	438,201	363,168	383,919	395,926	5.7%	3.1%	7.8%	11.2%
Florida	90.5%	11,247,634	12,426,633	9,302,360	10,301,290	10,433,849	10.7%	1.3%	7.8%	9.2%
Georgia	90.1%	5,755,750	6,390,590	4,726,083	4,951,955	5,132,032	4.8%	3.6%	12.2%	16.2%
Hawaii	76.9%	691,356	898,922	676,242	647,238	662,728	-4.3%	2.4%	4.3%	6.8%
Idaho	83.3%	861,869	1,034,402	679,535	798,015	764,880	17.4%	-4.2%	12.7%	8.0%
Illinois	87.9%	7,732,908	8,794,625	7,043,557	7,499,488	7,375,688	6.5%	-1.7%	4.8%	3.1%
Indiana	97.4%	4,513,615	4,634,261	4,008,902	4,296,602	4,295,687	7.2%	0.0%	5.1%	5.1%
Iowa	99.6%	2,190,158	2,199,849	1,812,728	1,971,735	2,027,713	8.8%	2.8%	8.0%	11.1%
Kansas	88.4%	1,749,759	1,978,713	1,615,699	1,694,365	1,663,017	4.9%	-1.9%	5.2%	3.3%
Kentucky	92.1%	2,906,809	3,156,794	2,649,084	2,794,285	2,766,288	5.5%	-1.0%	5.1%	4.0%
Louisiana	93.3%	2,945,618	3,158,676	2,806,202	2,923,395	2,890,891	4.2%	-1.1%	1.9%	0.8%
Maine	104.3%	1,068,461	1,024,699	950,059	1,023,956	995,548	7.8%	-2.8%	7.3%	4.3%
Maryland	88.3%	3,432,645	3,888,726	2,774,613	3,070,099	3,144,846	10.6%	2.4%	9.2%	11.8%
Massachusetts	90.7%	4,220,488	4,652,749	3,972,622	4,098,634	3,990,505	3.2%	-2.6%	5.8%	3.0%
Michigan	102.9%	7,470,764	7,263,250	6,797,293	7,164,047	7,180,778	5.4%	0.2%	4.0%	4.3%
Minnesota	100.5%	3,742,121	3,721,943	3,187,406	3,559,400	3,410,566	11.7%	-4.2%	9.7%	5.1%
Mississippi	89.7%	1,895,583	2,114,108	1,806,668	1,922,001	1,788,501	6.4%	-6.9%	6.0%	-1.4%
Missouri	97.9%	4,205,774	4,296,592	3,681,844	4,194,146	4,188,855	13.9%	-0.1%	0.4%	0.3%
Montana	90.1%	668,085	741,538	620,548	638,474	649,436	2.9%	1.7%	2.9%	4.6%
Nebraska	90.5%	1,157,034	1,278,980	1,083,544	1,160,199	1,138,069	7.1%	-1.9%	1.7%	-0.3%
Nevada	87.5%	1,446,425	1,652,846	869,801	1,071,101	1,229,229	23.1%	14.8%	17.7%	35.0%
New Hampshire	96.1%	958,528	997,247	690,159	855,861	850,836	24.0%	-0.6%	12.7%	12.0%
New Jersey	92.4%	5,401,528	5,844,477	4,655,852	5,005,959	4,861,279	7.5%	-2.9%	11.1%	7.9%
New Mexico	89.3%	1,229,163	1,376,025	950,743	1,105,372	1,088,977	16.3%	-1.5%	12.9%	11.2%
New York	91.3%	12,031,312	13,183,464	11,246,362	11,837,068	11,669,573	5.3%	-1.4%	3.1%	1.6%
North Carolina	95.1%	6,233,330	6,551,412	5,038,826	5,527,413	5,497,879	9.7%	-0.5%	13.4%	12.8%
North Dakota	100.0%	486,871	486,871	476,251	482,722	486,142	1.4%	0.7%	0.2%	0.9%
Ohio	97.1%	8,291,239	8,541,239	7,113,826	7,972,826	7,860,052	12.1%	-1.4%	5.5%	4.0%
Oklahoma	84.7%	2,184,092	2,578,351	2,067,911	2,143,978	2,067,316	3.7%	-3.6%	5.6%	1.9%
Oregon	79.9%	2,153,914	2,695,058	1,872,615	2,141,249	1,976,669	14.3%	-7.7%	9.0%	0.6%
Pennsylvania	93.5%	8,758,031	9,363,381	7,835,775	8,366,663	8,182,876	6.8%	-2.2%	7.0%	4.7%
Rhode Island	93.0%	701,307	754,438	672,950	687,553	682,344	2.2%	-0.8%	2.8%	2.0%
South Carolina	77.9%	2,553,923	3,279,329	2,047,368	2,315,462	2,452,714	13.1%	5.9%	4.1%	10.3%
South Dakota	96.2%	575,632	598,635	528,195	552,441	554,038	4.6%	0.3%	3.9%	4.2%
Tennessee	87.1%	3,946,481	4,533,233	3,347,979	3,704,040	3,738,703	10.6%	0.9%	5.6%	6.5%
Texas	91.8%	13,575,062	14,780,857	12,563,459	13,098,329	13,074,279	4.3%	-0.2%	3.8%	3.6%
Utah	80.1%	1,432,525	1,787,350	1,135,492	1,278,251	1,302,405	12.6%	1.9%	10.0%	12.1%
Vermont	93.2%	454,466	487,430	418,718	444,508	433,569	6.2%	-2.5%	4.8%	2.2%
Virginia	91.5%	5,034,660	5,500,265	4,219,956	4,517,980	4,555,940	7.1%	0.8%	10.5%	11.4%
Washington	80.0%	3,630,118	4,535,438	3,209,648	3,514,436	3,264,511	9.5%	-7.1%	11.2%	3.3%
West Virginia	86.0%	1,212,117	1,409,823	1,060,892	1,168,694	1,137,371	10.2%	-2.7%	6.6%	3.7%
Wisconsin	89.7%	3,688,195	4,113,565	4,086,868	4,169,875	3,448,767	2.0%	-17.3%	6.9%	-11.6%
Wyoming	72.5%	282,389	389,304	241,200	232,396	263,083	-3.7%	13.2%	7.3%	21.5%

Twenty-nine states have partisan voter registration, typically as a consequence of having closed primaries in their history. These 2008 and 2004 numbers, plus the change from 2004 to 2008 are provided below. Note in some instances a state either does not have a category of voter registration, such as "independent", or the Associated Press was unable to obtain complete statistics, such as for Rhode Island in 2004.

I hestiate to provide national totals here. These statistics can be misleading since only twenty-nine states have partisan registration. A large state like California thus dominates the numbers. Still, the national totals indicate that the 5.4% national increase in registration over 2004 came primarily from Independents and Democrats. Among these twenty-nine states, the number of registrants identifying with the Democratic Party increased 10.8%, compared to 0.5% for Republicans and 12.0% for Independents.

		2008						2004			Change '04 to '08
State	Dem	Rep	Other	Indep	Total	Dem	Rep	Other	Indep	Total	Dem	Rep	Other	Indep	Total
Alaska	76,729	126,583	29,605	262,814	495,731	71,961	118,328	33,438	251,013	474,740	6.6%	7.0%	-11.5%	4.7%	4.4%
Arizona	1,161,982	1,262,871	28,103	988,185	3,441,141	1,004,739	1,138,714	21,593	731,702	2,896,748	15.7%	10.9%	30.1%	35.1%	18.8%
California	7,683,495	5,428,052	747,621	3,444,923	17,304,091	7,120,425	5,745,518	765,429	2,925,901	16,557,273	7.9%	-5.5%	-2.3%	17.7%	4.5%
Colorado	1,056,080	1,065,154	19,525	1,069,499	3,210,258	947,866	1,125,374	12,440	1,028,886	3,114,566	11.4%	-5.4%	57.0%	3.9%	3.1%
Connecticut	778,291	425,376	7,562	880,751	2,091,980	668,718	442,495	3,830	897,666	2,012,709	16.4%	-3.9%	97.4%	-1.9%	3.9%
Delaware	279,167	181,850	140,331	0	601,348	240,999	181,510	128,475	0	550,984	15.8%	0.2%	9.2%		9.1%
District of Columbia	321,027	30,465	5,929	69,340	426,761	286,084	30,179	6,770	60,886	383,919	12.2%	0.9%	-12.4%	13.9%	11.2%
Florida	4,722,076	4,064,301	358,138	2,103,119	11,247,634	4,261,249	3,892,492	261,536	1,886,013	10,301,290	10.8%	4.4%	36.9%	11.5%	9.2%
Iowa	749,530	634,680	1,263	804,685	2,190,158	601,388	609,046	0	761,301	1,971,735	24.6%	4.2%		5.7%	11.1%
Kansas	484,710	771,019	11,147	482,883	1,749,759	454,478	783,068	11,710	445,109	1,694,365	6.7%	-1.5%	-4.8%	8.5%	3.3%
Kentucky	1,662,093	1,053,871	190,845	0	2,906,809	1,615,349	996,663	182,273	0	2,794,285	2.9%	5.7%	4.7%		4.0%
Louisiana	1,546,582	744,104	654,932	0	2,945,618	1,618,431	700,691	604,273	0	2,923,395	-4.4%	6.2%	8.4%		0.8%
Maine	347,023	283,872	34,375	403,191	1,068,461	319,198	287,452	24,155	393,151	1,023,956	8.7%	-1.2%	42.3%	2.6%	4.3%
Maryland	1,946,823	927,798	72,370	485,654	3,432,645	1,699,558	901,617	31,802	437,122	3,070,099	14.5%	2.9%	127.6%	11.1%	11.8%
Massachusetts	1,559,464	490,259	28,887	2,141,878	4,220,488	1,526,711	532,319	39,542	2,000,062	4,098,634	2.1%	-7.9%	-26.9%	7.1%	3.0%
Nebraska	392,943	558,465	10,119	195,507	1,157,034	396,767	575,781	9,690	177,961	1,160,199	-1.0%	-3.0%	4.4%	9.9%	-0.3%
Nevada	625,109	513,574	78,632	229,110	1,446,425	429,808	434,239	45,434	161,620	1,071,101	45.4%	18.3%	73.1%	41.8%	35.0%
New Hampshire	282,421	280,507	0	395,600	958,528	228,395	267,141	0	360,325	855,861	23.7%	5.0%		9.8%	12.0%
New Jersey	1,794,906	1,057,365	2,415	2,546,842	5,401,528	1,163,224	884,801	19,372	2,938,562	5,005,959	54.3%	19.5%	-87.5%	-13.3%	7.9%
New Mexico	602,983	401,791	32,374	192,015	1,229,163	550,519	359,563	30,304	164,986	1,105,372	9.5%	11.7%	6.8%	16.4%	11.2%
New York	5,831,445	3,054,520	621,653	2,523,694	12,031,312	5,534,574	3,209,082	679,103	2,414,309	11,837,068	5.4%	-4.8%	-8.5%	4.5%	1.6%
North Carolina	2,849,979	1,994,494	3,370	1,385,487	6,233,330	2,580,437	1,909,589	13,046	1,024,341	5,527,413	10.4%	4.4%	-74.2%	35.3%	12.8%
Oklahoma	1,079,373	859,872	0	244,847	2,184,092	1,101,072	816,933	720	225,253	2,143,978	-2.0%	5.3%		8.7%	1.9%
Oregon	929,741	695,677	96,574	431,922	2,153,914	829,197	761,717	72,653	477,682	2,141,249	12.1%	-8.7%	32.9%	-9.6%	0.6%
Pennsylvania	4,480,691	3,243,391	568,981	464,968	8,758,031	3,985,486	3,405,278	975,899	0	8,366,663	12.4%	-4.8%	-41.7%		4.7%
Rhode Island	298,388	76,651	0	326,268	701,307	0	0	0	0	687,553					2.0%
South Dakota	204,413	241,528	2,048	82,473	575,632	191,523	238,580	1,192	70,966	552,441	6.7%	1.2%	71.8%	16.2%	4.2%
West Virginia	675,305	353,437	16,264	167,111	1,212,117	680,464	349,193	10,043	128,994	1,168,694	-0.8%	1.2%	61.9%	29.5%	3.7%
Wyoming	72,577	168,431	1,474	39,907	282,389	62,385	146,328	23,683	0	232,396	16.3%	15.1%	-93.8%		21.5%