At the driver's license bureau, the welfare office and the corner mailbox, Americans signed up as voters in record numbers last year - then stayed home from the polls in droves.
An estimated 3.4 million more people registered in time to vote in 1996 as a direct result of conveniences created by the national "motor voter" law, according to a federal study completed this week.The Federal Election Commission found that almost 73 percent of the nation's eligible voters were registered, the highest number for any election since reliable recordkeeping began in 1960.
Registration increased 2 percentage points from 1992, when it was about 71 percent, the FEC said. The count excluded people believed to have moved into another voting district since registering.
Actually going to the polls proved less popular. For President Clinton's second election, turnout was 49 percent of citizens old enough to vote, the lowest level since Calvin Coolidge was chosen in 1924.
Some analysts thought turnout was low because voters believed Clinton already had a lock on victory over Republican challenger Bob Dole. Turnout was a more respectable 55 percent in 1992, when Clinton ousted President Bush in a contest enlivened by independent Ross Perot.
Turnout typically mirrors registration. Not since 1972, when the vote was extended to people ages 18-21, had registration gone up at the same time voter turnout dropped.
That shows the motor voter law served its purpose last year, said FEC election specialist Brian Hancock. He predicted registration would continue to rise as states improve the process over the next few years, possibly topping 80 percent of the voting-age population. But it is unlikely to reach the 90 percent level forecast by some advocates.
"Given the way the American public is, there's at least 10 percent who feel they should have the right not to register to vote just as much as they have the right to vote," Hancock said.