Senior Policy Analyst Cody Allen shares insights on the National Voter Registration Act and state voter registration systems
For more information, contact Tyler Reinagel, Director of Policy and Research | treinagel@csg.org
On October 16, 2025, CSG South Senior Policy Analyst Cody Allen presented to the Georgia House Blue Ribbon Study Committee on Election Procedures at South Georgia Technical College in Americus, Georgia. His testimony highlighted the requirements of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and compared voter registration systems across Southern states.
Allen emphasized that Southern states must meet certain requirements under Sections 5 through 8 of the NVRA. Section 5, or the “Motor Voter” provision, requires states to provide the opportunity to register to vote at motor vehicle agencies where driver’s licenses or other state-issued identifications are issued, renewed, or reissued. Section 6 requires states to offer voter registration by mail using a standard federal voter registration form or a state-issued form that meets the same federal standards. Section 7 requires states to expand voter registration services at public assistance agencies, such as Medicaid offices, state agencies serving individuals with disabilities, vocational rehabilitation entities, and other state-designated agencies. Federal law only requires other state agencies to be designated voter registration agencies, or VRAs, but does not specify what those entities must be. Commonly, as seen in Alabama or Arkansas, these include public libraries, while other states, such as Kentucky and Virginia, designate other VRAs to include public high schools and regional fish and wildlife offices, respectively. Section 8 addresses registered voter list maintenance as well as the procedures for properly marking voters as inactive prior to removing them from voter rolls.
Allen also highlighted Alabama’s Voter Integrity Database (AVID), which the legislature codified in 2025 via Senate Bill 142 after the Secretary of State started the program in 2023. AVID is designed as a state-operated, maintained, and serviced database for voter registration identification and verification purposes. As of October 2025, 10 states, including all CSG South member states except Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia, have signed bilateral memorandums of understanding with Alabama to share select voter registration data at least annually for cross-checking and verification purposes. These agreements are set to expire on January 1, 2027, if not renewed or terminated beforehand, and may require additional legislative actions or funding to implement and maintain. The codifying legislation uniquely limits participation in interstate programs such as AVID to a bilateral level instead of a multi-state agreement. Data shared between Alabama and Georgia cannot be shared with other MOU signees.
For more information, view these resources below:
- Presentation slides from the CSG South testimony
- Full video of the Georgia House Blue Ribbon hearing, featuring testimony from Cody Allen, CSG South’s senior policy analyst.
