Voting gets easier with auto signup

Once someone applies for a license, they will receive a card and a pre-paid postage return envelope from the Oregon State Elections Office.

The card will have three options—do nothing and become a registered voter but not a member of a political party, choose a political party and return the card or use the card to opt-out and decline to register to vote.

Three weeks is given from the date the card is sent to respond. However, recipients can unregister to vote any time after that by contacting Wasco County Clerk Lisa Gambee.

Once registered, voters will receive a ballot with instructions in the mail about two weeks prior to Election Day.

“Oregon Motor Voter will modernize voter registration in Oregon and provide a secure, simple, and convenient way for more Oregonians to become registered voters,” Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins wrote in a press release. “We are already seeing other states follow our lead on this pioneering program.”

Those who already have a driver’s license can register to vote online.

Oregon Motor Voter, which was created by House Bill 2177, passed by the Legislature in the 2015 session and then signed into law by Governor Kate Brown last spring, is the biggest major change in voting since statewide vote by mail was implemented in the year 2000.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, some 29,000 eligible Oregonians were denied their right to vote in the last two federal election cycles because they missed the 21-day cutoff period to register prior to Election Day. A lot of busy families don’t

think about registering to vote until close to Election Day and by then it’s too late.​

“Oregon has a proud tradition of trailblazing,” Atkins said. “It’s in our state’s DNA. In addition to the simple registration methods already available to Oregonians, Oregon Motor Voter will help expand access to voting and help us put a ballot in the hand of nearly every eligible voter in the state. As we work toward making voter registration more secure and accessible, we are setting an example for civic engagement that can become the model for the nation.”

Next year will be a busy one for elections with the presidential primary

taking place in Oregon on May 17 and the general election being held

Nov. 8.