Biden officials keep states waiting on expanding Medicaid voter registration

Officials in several states are waiting for the Biden administration to greenlight proposals that advocates say could enable hundreds of thousands of lower-income U.S. citizens and citizens with disabilities to vote.

Despite multiple inquiries from members of Congress over the past two years, Biden officials have yet to weigh in on plans for using Medicaid application information to automatically register eligible voters when they sign up for the government-sponsored health insurance.

Biden officials have cited concerns about the confidentiality of Medicaid applicants' information, but the delay by an administration that has said its policy is "to promote and defend the right to vote" is frustrating state officials who are eager to help more citizens participate in the democratic process — including in crucial 2024 elections.

"It is a lost opportunity. It would be great to have a way to systematically reach all these people," says Molly Woon, Oregon's election director.

What automatic voter registration through Medicaid could look like

A growing number of states automatically sign up eligible voters at local DMV offices.

Building on that momentum, some states have also been focusing on what more could be done at their agencies that run Medicaid, a joint federal and state program.

Since 2019, states including Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Minnesota, Oregon and Michigan, plus Washington, D.C., have passed laws calling for their Medicaid offices to transfer information about Medicaid applicants who are eligible to vote so that election officials can automatically register them.

Helping eligible voters register is not a new role for these agencies.

For decades, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as