Does HAVA require a true statewide voter registration system?
Section 303(a)(1) contains a detailed requirement for States to create, for use in federal elections, a “single, uniform, official centralized, interactive computerized statewide voter registration list defined, maintained, and administered at the State level,” containing registration information and a unique identifier for every registered voter in the state. This requirement applies to all States, except any State that both now and in the future does not require voter registration for federal elections. This requirement would not be satisfied by counties continuing to maintain their own non-uniform voter registration systems where records are only periodically exchanged with the State. Rather, Section 301(a)(1) requires a true statewide system which is both uniform in each county and administered at the state level.
