Oregon has conducted all of its statewide elections entirely by mail since 1998. A Huffington Post article explains how it works:

The process is simple. It’s secure. And it means residents don’t have to worry about leaving their houses and risk getting the coronavirus in order to vote. They don’t even have to worry about putting a stamp on their ballots; Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed a law last year that requires the state to pay for ballot postage.

…There are so many benefits to Oregon’s vote-by-mail system that it’s a wonder why other states haven’t already made mail-in voting an option for every voter, never mind during a public health emergency. The system is simple: Ballots are mailed to all registered voters’ addresses three weeks before each election, along with a pamphlet of information on candidates and issues. Voters mark them, sign them and drop them in a mailbox. Election officials verify every signature ― clerks are trained in forensics and will contact you if your signature doesn’t match ― and tally the results, which are easy to reproduce for recounts. They’re also hard to manipulate, which reduces the risk of foreign interference in U.S. elections.

“You can’t hack paper,” said the governor. “You can replicate and verify the results.”

It’s also cost-effective. Brown said while her state still operates some polling stations, its vote-by-mail elections cost 20% to 30% less than in-person voting because of reduced costs from staffing polling stations and ballot counting systems. Beyond that, Oregon has one of the highest voter participation rates in the country.

Let’s all be more like Oregon.

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As of this week, Oregon has a new system for registering voters. Under the law signed on Monday, March 16, Oregon citizens are automatically placed on the voter registration roll if they have had an interaction with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles since 2013.

The new law  is designed to make registering to vote easier, as opposed to erecting barriers to registration, which has become a politically motivated strategy elsewhere—mostly in states with Republican Governors and/or Republican-controlled legislatures.

What’s shocking is to realize that the new Oregon law is the first of its kind in the U.S.

Oregon’s Governor, Kate Brown, made streamlined voter registration a key plank in her campaign platform. She had previously pushed for automatic motor-voter registration as Oregon’s Secretary of State.

When she signed the bill, Brown said,

During the testimony on the bill, a legislator said to me, ‘It’s already so easy to register — why would we make it easier?’ My answer is that we have the tools to make voter registration more cost-effective, more secure and more convenient for Oregonians, so why wouldn’t we?

Oregon’s new law turns conventional voter registration on its head: Traditionally, citizens have had to seek out voter registration—opting in by going to an election board, signing a voter registration card, or, more recently, registering on-line. Under Oregon’s new procedure, registration is de facto. If a citizen does not want to be registered, he or she can opt out.

According to the Washington Post,

Oregon estimates the bill will add 300,000 new voters to its rolls. According to the state DMV, there are 876,086 more drivers with licenses in the state than registered voters, however, not all of those drivers may be eligible and some may opt out of being registered. Adding 300,000 voters to its rolls would increase the percentage of eligible voters who are registered to 83 percent.

But will having more registered voters increase actual turnout on election day? That remains to be seen. In the meantime, kudos to Oregon for another forward-thinking, democracy-promoting breakthrough.

The post Oregon’s new voter registration law: This is what democracy really looks like appeared first on Occasional Planet.