Ore. claims success in voting access expansion

A strategy to register voters got a first test last month, and the results are seen as suggesting it was a success.

Under a first-in-the-nation law that went into effect at the start of the year, Oregon automatically registered more than 225,000 residents based on interactions with the state’s department of motor vehicles, such as obtaining or renewing a driver’s license. Of those, nearly 100,000 voted last month, a turnout rate of 43 percent, more than half the 80 percent rate among all registered voters in the state.

“For Oregon to get that just among the people who are automatically registered is quite a feat,” said Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The law represents one of a handful of recent attempts by states to expand voting access even as many others sought to limit it, often by imposing strict requirements intended to protect against voter fraud.

The Oregon law — the first “automatic voter registration” policy to be tested in an election — is notable for a subtle innovation: It is optout, not opt-in. Rather than ask eligible residents to take an action like checking a box to register to vote, residents are automatically registered when they apply for, renew or replace a drivers’ license, ID card or permit.