Once again Oregon has found itself on the leading edge of election reform. On January 4 2016, the state became the first in the country to begin automatically registering voters who visit the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to apply for a new or renew a driver’s license or state ID. Since Oregon Motor Voter launched one month ago, the state has added 4,348 voters to the rolls. Under the law, once the voters are registered they receive a Motor Voter card from the Oregon Elections Division and they have three options: Do nothing and remain registered, opt-out, or choose a political party.
Voters have 21 days to respond to the card. If they don’t respond to the card, they may still opt-out at any time by going online or to their local elections office. Once a voter opts out, it is noted on their DMV file and they will not be automatically registered again upon a future visit to the DMV.
According to the elections division, which is reporting its findings today, since the law launched on January 4, 4,653 new voters were automatically enrolled as voters. Of those only 305 returned their cards and chose to opt-out of registering by the 21-day deadline. An additional 437 people returned their cards choosing a party affiliation.
Full Article: electionlineWeekly.