All elections are assigned to their own ID, with their own rules pertinent to the election type. In addition, some voting jurisdictions authorize non-candidate-centric slates that include bond measures and other referendums. In some cases, an election may be part of an election cycle, which combines primary, general, and ancillary elections (runoff, etc.) related to the selection of the final winning candidate or non-candidate issue in the general election. In other cases, an election may be considered a “standalone†election, most notably to fill a vacated seat due to resignation or death of an officeholder, or in some cases, special state or municipal elections.
Each election cycle requires the Voter to register for each one. While various state or county Voter rolls contain the results of the past several election cycles for voters, a voter must register for each registration cycle by a designated date prior to the election, in accordance with state law. For federal elections, minimum standards must be applied pursuant to national defense statutes, which supersede 10th amendment protocols. Currently some states automatically register individuals at the same time they get their driver’s license or state ID’s, which makes verification difficult. In addition, the driver’s license may not be obtained in time for the registration period for an election cycle.
(Commentary: “Motor voter,†presented as a “convenience,†in which individuals are automatically registered to vote while obtaining a driver’s license or state identification at their local motor vehicle bureau or department is a disastrous method of being able to register to vote, as in some states voter registration is required, like California. Coupled with the issue of driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, which in turn has resulted in provisional votes being counted in several close election races in California, there is no real method of countering this state requirement that is unfortunately being advanced in states beyond two-party political competition, such as California. However, for purposes of setting up the framework for registration purposes, motor voter will be temporarily removed from the process.)
A voter may register once for an election cycle, which will include all the elections within that cycle. A typical election cycle contains two elections: A Primary election, in which candidates of political parties vie for the nomination of their party, and the General election, in which the winners of the Primary and non-affiliated party candidates vie for the final determination. In addition, some states or municipalities may have requirements for runoff elections as well as minimum percentage requirements (usually, “50% + 1†clear majority) that can be added following either the Primary or the General election. Also in some jurisdictions, a “Jungle Primary” may replace the typical Party Primary, which allows all voters of all parties to run in the same Primary race, with the top two vote receivers running against each other in the General election.
If a registered voter changes his residence but stays within the jurisdiction, then he should be able to provide a simple address change at the jurisdiction voter registration office.
VoterComp can accommodate all these different requirements safely, securely, and quickly.