Tim Pawlenty in The Associated Press

On Government Reform: Registering to vote should be a voluntary, intentional act

Seventeen years after Oregon decided to become the first state to hold all elections with mail-in ballots, it took another pioneering step on Monday to broaden participation by automatically registering people to vote. Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, signed a bill that puts the burden of registration on the state instead of voters. Under the legislation, every adult citizen in Oregon who has had business with the Department of Motor Vehicles since 2013 but has not registered to vote will receive a ballot in the mail at least 20 days before the next statewide election. The measure is expected to add about 300,000 voters to the rolls. Some other states have considered such legislation, but none have gone as far as Oregon. Minnesota nearly instituted automatic voter registration in 2009 before it was vetoed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who said that "registering to vote should be a voluntary, intentional act." Similar concerns were raised by Oregon's minority Republicans. Source: Associated Press in N.Y. Times, "Voter Reg made Automatic" Mar 17, 2015

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Page last updated: Feb 15, 2019