Access to the vote in the 2006 midterm election : evidence from the 2006 Cooperative Congressional Election Study

Abstract

The 2000 and 2004 U.S. national elections were plagued by problems which caused a significant number of citizens to be effectively denied access to the vote. This paper uses data from the 2006 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES) public opinion poll to measure whether certain electoral problems persisted in the 2006 midterm elections. Of particular concern are whether voters were asked to show photo ID in order to vote, whether voters experienced problems with their registrations upon attempting to vote, what demographic groups experienced these problems most frequently, and what remedies were offered to such voters. Additionally, public opinion on whether all voters should be required to show photo IDs in order to vote and on whether polling stations were well operated in this election is also examined. The data shows that while significant percentages of CCES respondents experienced registration problems when voting and/or were asked to show photo ID before voting almost no respondents were prevented from casting ballots. Respondents showed overwhelming support for measures which would require all voters to show photo ID before voting, though this support varied significantly by party ID. Finally, respondents were overwhelmingly pleased with how their polling stations were operated during this election and very few of them were forced to wait in long lines before voting.