One of the best ways to increase voter registration is to link it with other government services, so that citizens do not need to go through extra steps to register. In 2016, Oregon became the first state to implement Automatic Voter Registration, or AVR, when citizens interacted with the DMV to get their Driver’s License.

Eight states still do not allow online voter registration. As more interactions with the government and business occur online, it only makes sense to give citizens the option to register to vote online. It is a safe, secure, and easy way to increase participation in democracy.

As 23 states and Washington, D.C. have shown, it is safe and secure to allow citizens to register to vote on any day, up to and including Election Day. In many states where this is allowed, citizens who register and vote on the same day cast provisional ballots, which are counted once their registration is processed and they are deemed eligible to vote.

One way several states increased voter participation among young citizens is to allow teenagers as young as 16 to pre-register to vote. This allows the person to fill out the requisite paperwork so that they are automatically registered to vote on their 18th birthday.

There is no reason to limit pro-voter registration efforts to just political parties or civic organizations. Businesses can participate in a variety of ways, including: Allowing time off for employees to register to vote; hosting voter registration drives in their place of business; and even finding ways to make it easier for people in their community to register to vote.

Reducing polling locations and frequently changing polling locations creates “confusion and barriers for voters, potentially disenfranchising” voters, according to research from the Pew Charitable Trust. Many states with a history of race-based voter discrimination have closed more than 1,600 polling locations between 2012 and 2018.

In most states, local election officials (usually at the county level) determine polling locations. The decision of where to place polling locations is critical to ensuring equal access to voting. Polling centers should be located conveniently for as many people as possible.

It is no longer acceptable for polling locations to be open only during normal business hours. State legislators should give maximum flexibility to localities as to how long polling locations can operate. Local officials should seek to extend voting hours well into the evening and on weekends, and both state and local officials should allocate adequate funding to ensure polling locations can operate for the maximum number of hours possible.

One improvement to early voting is allowing voters to cast their ballot at any early voting location in a given area, usually a county. If allowed under state law, local election officials should implement county- wide voting. If it is not allowed under law, state lawmakers should give localities the authority to do so.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a massive increase in the use of voting by mail, also known as absentee voting. The percentage of votes cast by mail more than doubled from 2016 to 2020, going from 21% to more than 43%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. State legislators must look at ways to retain and increase access to absentee voting in the future.

State or national lawmakers should make Election Day itself a national holiday. In this way, many citizens would have the time and opportunity to go to the polls on Election Day if they so choose. Because many service workers still work on holidays, it is important that making Election Day a holiday be in addition to – not instead of – expanded early voting and absentee voting.