If you’re reading this, you’re probably a reliable voter. You’ve known for a while that an election was coming. You may have checked your voter registration to make sure it’s up to date, especially if you moved recently. You know where your polling place is. And you might have even cast your ballot already by mail or at an early voting center.

But millions of Americans aren’t like you. In a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, 16% of U.S. adults said they don’t follow the news at all. And when Americans get political news, 54% say they mostly come across it rather than seek it out. Some voters may only realize it’s Election Day when they drive past a polling place today.

Those voters have the same right to vote as you do. But if their state’s registration deadline has passed, they may not be able to cast a ballot that counts. In seven states — Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — the standard registration deadline is 30 days before an election. Deadlines vary in other states: nine have deadlines 20 to 27 days out, and seven have deadlines within 19 days.

Voters whose eligibility is in question can cast a provisional ballot under federal law. Election officials review those ballots after Election Day, and not all are counted. In 2024, about 436,000 of the 1.74 million provisional ballots cast were rejected — roughly one in four. The most common reason was that the voter wasn’t registered in the state.

Voter registration wasn’t common for most of America’s early history. Massachusetts adopted the first registration requirement in 1800, but registration laws became more common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Officials cited the difficulty of managing growing city populations and preventing fraud. But the rules also made it harder for immigrants, Black voters and lower-income people to cast a ballot.

I’m not saying voter registration is bad. But at least one state still doesn’t require it: North Dakota. Eligible voters can cast a ballot if they meet the state’s age, citizenship and residency rules and show an accepted form of ID. If their ID has an outdated address, they can provide a recent water bill, paycheck or other official document showing where they live.

Registration deadlines were defended as a way to keep election offices from facing a crush of last-minute registrations at polling places already dealing with long lines and temporary staff. That argument carries less weight now. Computers have made it easier to register voters and check records than when everything had to be matched against a paper poll book. Voting is already spread across more days: In 2024, nearly as many voters cast ballots early in person as voted in person on Election Day.

At a deeper level, the argument that some people shouldn’t be allowed to vote because they didn’t plan far enough ahead of Election Day is simply untenable.

This isn’t a partisan issue. Research has not found a consistent partisan advantage for same-day registration. The policy can make it easier for people who missed a deadline to participate, regardless of which party they support.

In 21 states and Washington, D.C., eligible voters can register and cast a ballot on Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In most of those states, they can do it during early voting, too. They generally have to show documents verifying their identity and residence, though the rules vary by state.

To be fair, same-day registration adds some work for election officials. They have to verify a voter’s identity and residence, check that the person hasn’t already voted and update the voter record. Some places may need additional staff or equipment. But states that offer same-day registration have figured out how to check eligibility without too much trouble.

This reform matters more than ever, as the Trump administration has pushed to identify and remove alleged noncitizens from state voter rolls. The Justice Department sued California over a list of more than 20,000 people it says are likely noncitizens. In Washington state, federal prosecutors asked officials to set aside ballots from more than 400 people they suspect are noncitizens. State officials have questioned the reliability of the federal data. Separately, courts have dismissed many Justice Department lawsuits seeking access to states’ voter files.

Same-day registration wouldn’t prevent a voter from being wrongly flagged or removed. But it would give them a way to fix it on Election Day and have their ballot counted.

For the crowd that once argued it should be easy to vote but hard to cheat, trying to strip people of their voter registration — especially in states where they can’t register again on Election Day — is nothing more than an attempt to make it harder for eligible U.S. citizens, to cast a ballot. It’s also contradictory to insist ballots be cast and received by Election Day while defending registration deadlines that can fall weeks earlier.

As things stand now, millions of Americans can register to vote on Election Day, but millions more can’t. This reform has been tried and found effective. Research suggests same-day registration can especially help young voters, people who move frequently, lower-income voters and voters of color. Those groups aren’t a lock for either party: Trump made gains with some of them in 2024, but Kamala Harris still won young voters, Black voters and Hispanic voters, while Trump narrowly carried voters earning under $50,000.

It’s long past time for Congress to update our election laws. Provisional ballots were supposed to be a backstop, but they have turned out to be a flawed solution. A national requirement that states offer same-day registration would give every voter the same basic opportunity to register and vote on Election Day, wherever they live.

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