Claremont, California: Citizens for True Democracy today released a report revealing that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) greatly overstated improvements in voter registration over the past four decades. The independent government agency, which is considered by many to be the authoritative source for voter and election data, used inappropriate methods to determine trends in registration.

FEC analyses indicate that voter registration increased more than 16 percentage points between the 1960 and 1996 presidential elections. Most of this change, though, is an artifact of the FEC’s failure to account for missing registration data. Corrected data shows that voter registration has remained relatively constant, according to the study.

CTD’s report indicates that voter registration actually declined between 1960 and 1976, despite three constitutional amendments – including a voting age reduction – and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, all of which were expected to increase registration. The FEC asserts that registration increased more than 18 percentage points during the same period.

The report, "Misleading Methodology, Distorted Data: The FEC’s Analyses of Trends in Voter Registration, 1960 – 1996," also documents pervasive inaccuracy throughout the FEC’s website, www.fec.gov.

"The FEC has presented unreliable, misleading information to the American people. In the process, it has irresponsibly masked alarming realities about Americans’ relationship with and perceptions of our democracy," says David Enrich, the report’s author and Citizens for True Democracy’s director.

The FEC determines national voter registration trends by comparing the total number of registered voters to the national "voting age population." Although the FEC did not have several states’ voter registration information, it included every state’s voting age population in its national total. Therefore, every state for which the FEC lacked registration data is in effect credited with zero percent registration. In 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972, the FEC missed up to 16 states’ registration information.

Citizens for True Democracy is a group of political activists at Claremont McKenna College (CMC). CTD, founded by Enrich in 1998, examines ways to improve electoral fairness and participation in the U.S. The report, and more information about CTD, are available online at www.truedemocracy.org.