Alex Boyd

01/27/2017

100,000 Newly Registered Oregon Motor Voters Cast Ballots in November 2016
On March 16, 2015, in front of an enthusiastic crowd, Oregon Governor Kate Brown
signed the Oregon Motor Voter Act into law.1 HB 2177 mandates that all eligible Oregonians be
automatically registered to vote upon obtaining a drivers license or state ID card from the DMV.
Oregonians who are automatically registered are notified by mail and may opt out within three
weeks. If they do not opt out, they receive a ballot in the mail.2 Oregon has historically been a
leader in efforts to increase voter turnout and enfranchisementit addition to being the first state
to automatically register voters, it was also the first state to switch to all-mail ballots in 1998.3
Some skeptics argue that the Oregon Motor Voter Act had mixed results because overall
turnout in Oregon (for presidential general elections) hit a 16-year low in 2016.4 But this figure is
largely out of context, given that 2016 also marked a 20-year low in turnout nationwide.5 The
change in turnout is more likely because of the historically low favorability ratings of both
candidates rather than a flaw in HB 2177.6
More optimistically, voter registration increased 14% following the passage of HB 2177.
250,000 motor voters have been registered since the laws passage, and 43% of motor voters
voted in the 2016 general presidential election. 84% of party-affiliated 35% of nonaffiliated
motor voters showed up to the pollsthe discrepancy consistent with national trends showing
that nonaffiliated citizens are generally less likely to vote. 43% overall turnout may seem
disappointing (if, for no other reason, because it is under 50%), but it is actually a much more
promising figure than many political scientists expected. Ultimately, about 100,000 motor voters
cast ballots in November.78
1 Ganga,MariaL.La.UnderNewOregonLaw,AllEligibleVotersAreRegisteredUnlessTheyOptout.Los
AngelesTimes,March17,2015.http://www.latimes.com/nation/lanaoregonautomaticvoterregistration20150317
story.html.
2 Chokshi,Niraj.AutomaticVoterRegistrationaSuccessinOregon.TheNewYorkTimes,December2,2016.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/politics/oregonvoterregistration.html.
3 VotebyMailinOregon.Wikipedia,November4,2016.https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Voteby
mail_in_Oregon&oldid=747830893.
4 OregonsFirstTestofAutomaticVoterRegistrationHasMixedResults.AccessedJanuary27,2017.
http://pew.org/2fy0z3y.
5 CNN,GregoryWallace.VoterTurnoutat20YearLowin2016.CNN.AccessedJanuary27,2017.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/11/politics/popularvoteturnout2016/index.html.
6 Enten,Harry.AmericansDistasteForBothTrumpAndClintonIsRecordBreaking.FiveThirtyEight,May5,
2016.https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americansdistasteforbothtrumpandclintonisrecordbreaking/.
7 Oregonian/OregonLive,BetsyHammond|The.TurnoutamongOregonMotorVotersReached43Percent.
OregonLive.com.AccessedJanuary27,2017.
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/11/turnout_among_oregon_motor_vot.html.
8 Nearly100,000OregonMotorVoterRegistrantsParticipateinNov.8Election.TheOregonSecretaryofState
Newsroom,November14,2016.http://oregonsosblog.us/2016/11/nearly100000oregonmotorvoterregistrants
participatenov8election/.