Automatic Voter Registration in Oregon

In March 2015, Oregon achieved a land­mark accom­plish­ment, becom­ing the first state in the coun­try to adopt auto­matic voter regis­tra­tion when Governor Kate Brown signed the “New Motor Voter” bill (H.B. 2177).

The new law, which provides for a system of auto­matic voter regis­tra­tion at Oregon’s DMV, has the poten­tial to trans­form the voter regis­tra­tion process across the coun­try and has already spurred efforts in Cali­for­nia and New Jersey, among others. Auto­matic regis­tra­tion makes two trans­form­at­ive changes to voter regis­tra­tion. Eligible citizens who inter­act with govern­ment agen­cies are registered to vote unless they decline, and agen­cies trans­fer voter-regis­tra­tion inform­a­tion elec­tron­ic­ally to elec­tion offi­cials.

Oregon will dramat­ic­ally modern­ize voter regis­tra­tion by repla­cing a paper-based system with a new process in which the state iden­ti­fies and adds eligible Orego­ni­ans to the rolls elec­tron­ic­ally, without the need for addi­tional action by the voter. Using inform­a­tion the DMV already has on file — includ­ing age, resid­en­tial inform­a­tion, and citizen­ship status —eli­gible Orego­ni­ans will be added to the rolls without having to fill out addi­tional paper­work. Many other states elec­tron­ic­ally trans­fer voter regis­tra­tion inform­a­tion from DMV offices to elec­tion offi­cials, but Oregon will be the first to put the burden on the govern­ment — not the indi­vidual — to ensure voters are registered.

Oregon is in the process of design­ing and test­ing its auto­matic voter regis­tra­tion system, and it is expec­ted to launch early next year. The Bren­nan Center and others hailed the passage of the law, which received wide­spread national atten­tion. 

• Wash­ing­ton Post Edit­or­ial: Hassle-Free Voting Regis­tra­tion in Oregon
• Boston Globe Edit­or­ial: Making Voting Rights Auto­matic
• Bren­nan Center: How Oregon’s New Law Can Change Voter Regis­tra­tion
• Los Angeles Times: Under New Oregon Law, All Eligible Voters Are Registered Unless they Opt Out
• Politico: Oregon Pion­eers Auto­matic Voter Regis­tra­tion
• The Orego­nian: Kate Brown Gets to Sign Her Own Bill, for Auto­matic Voter Regis­tra­tion in Oregon
• Bren­nan Center Testi­mony: Stream­lin­ing Voter Regis­tra­tion