Amidst the passage of increasingly restrictive voter ID laws, Oregon’s current governor, Kate Brown, recently signed a groundbreaking piece of voting legislation for the state. House Bill 2177 was passed on Monday, and is the first of its kind in the nation. This bill automatically registers any eligible Oregon resident who conducts business with the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division to vote. Under the legislation, any Oregonian who is eligible, but not registered to vote and has interacted with the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division since 2013 will automatically be registered to vote and receive a ballot in the mail at least 20 days before any Election Day.
As of now, Oregon’s current voting rolls have approximately 2.2 million people registered, and the state predicts another 300,000 voters will be immediately added thanks to HB 2177. Ultimately, over 800,000 new voters can now be registered as a result of this bill. In order to implement the bill, Oregon’s DMV will communicate voter information (such as residential information, age, citizenship status, and signature) to the secretary of state’s office, which will then update the voter registration rolls.
This measure changes the entire voting landscape in Oregon by shifting the onus of responsibility for voter registration from individual voters to the state of Oregon–replacing the opt-in system with an opt-out system. Residents who are registered to vote under the bill will be notified via mail and those who would not like to remain on the voting rolls have three weeks to notify the state that they wish to opt out. All voters will automatically be registered as unaffiliated with a political party.
This measure was a polemic one for state legislators and votes fell largely along party lines. Democrats, who were mainly in favor of HB 2177, hailed the measure as an important step to support voting rights, especially for young and low-income citizens. However, no Republican, in either the House or the Senate, voted for the bill, and many voiced concern over potential voter fraud issues, the financial burden of executing the law, and the risk of jeopardizing private information. However, as Jeff Mapes points out in an article in The Oregonian, proof of citizenship status is already required to procure a driver’s license and the bill has several provisions in place to protect the information of vulnerable groups, such as victims of domestic violence, to ensure their information is kept private.
The “Motor Voter” Bill is not the first time Oregon has led the nation in innovative voting legislation: In 1998, Ballot Measure 60 was passed, which transitioned the state to an all-mail voting system. Oregon currently has one of the highest voter-registration rates in the nation (in the 2014 General Election, 73% of eligible voters were registered and 70% cast a ballot) and the passage of HB 2177 solidifies Oregon’s position at the forefront of progressive voting policy.
Read more about Oregon’s “Motor Voter” Law in Vox, The Oregonian, The LA Times, and The Boston Globe.