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Evaluating the Quality of a National Voter Registration File Using Administrative Records

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  • Andres Felipe Mira

Abstract

This technical note presents a fitness-for-use analysis of the 2020 voter registration files provided to the Census Bureau by a commercial data vendor. The analysis covers the PIK and MAFID assignment rate at the national, state, and county levels as well as by demographic characteristics. The quality of the demographic and address data is measured and their impact on the PIK and MAFID assignment rates is examined. The assigned PIKs are used to measure the number of duplicate voter registrations within and across state voter registration files. The number of deceased voters in the voter registration files according to the Numident are measured. The 2020 files are then merged with the 2024 voter registration files using the unique vendor-provided ID to measure the quality of each state’s voter registration files over time. The merged files are also used to measure the quality of the vendor-provided IDs and the PVS process in assigning PIKs. The note concludes by comparing the total number of registrations to the 2020 Current Population Survey official estimates of the number of persons registered to vote by state.

Suggested Citation

  • Andres Felipe Mira, 2025. "Evaluating the Quality of a National Voter Registration File Using Administrative Records," CES Technical Notes Series 25-18, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:tnotes:25-18
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