A magical thing happens when registering to vote becomes easier — or, if you can even imagine, effortless.
Case in point: Oregon.
Image via iStock.
</div></div></div><h2>In 2015, Oregon passed a law utilizing the state's DMV to significantly increase the number of people registered to vote.</h2><p>Under the new provision, any Oregonian who interacts with the state's Department of Motor Vehicles (to, say, get a new driver's license) sees their information <em>automatically</em> sent to the secretary of state's elections division, registering them as a voter.</p><p>A resident would <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/politics/oregon-voter-registration.html" target="_blank">need to opt out </a>— not opt <em>in</em> — to the voter registration process.</p><div><div class="push-wrapper--mobile" data-card="image" data-reactroot=""><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTQ3MzQzNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMzcwODUzOH0.Y1A3OKTeoZRzEP9e7Faw6y3_9gnufxjPJzVvKI8bJTQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="c9dde" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cf8a2aa8c9efce4862e50ae1efd04a1e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><div class="image-caption"><p>Photo by Don Ryan/AP.</p></div></div></div><p>As <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/politics/oregon-voter-registration.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported in December, the new law was deemed a big success shortly after the 2016 election as more than 225,000 Oregonians became new registrants through the DMV (not too shabby for a state of about <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045216/41" target="_blank">4 million</a>).</p><h2>Now, a <a href="https://www.allianceforyouthaction.org/fact-sheet-automatic-voter-registration-transforms-oregon-youth-registration-turnout-rates/" target="_blank">new report</a> from the Alliance for Youth Action is pinpointing <em>who</em>, exactly, headed to the polls in Oregon during the election. </h2><p>Of all the states, Oregon saw the <a href="https://www.allianceforyouthaction.org/fact-sheet-automatic-voter-registration-transforms-oregon-youth-registration-turnout-rates/" target="_blank">largest spike</a> in voter turnout among young people and people of color between the last two presidential elections. It shows the automatic voter registration law did precisely what it was intended to do: help boost turnout, particularly among demographic groups that needed it most. </p><p>Millennials — who tend to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/03/22/why-dont-millennials-vote/?utm_term=.541d3357400f" target="_blank">move around</a> more often than their parents (which complicates their voter registration process) — and people of color — who face obstacles, often <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/2016-a-case-study-in-voter-suppression-258b5f90ddcd" target="_blank">politically-motivated</a>, that suppress their vote — generally lag behind other groups in terms of election day turnout. </p><p>57% of people ages 18 through 29 voted in the 2016 election — up from just 37% in 2012, according to the report from the Alliance for Youth Action. And a whopping <em>79% </em>of people of color voted last November — up from 53% in 2012. </p><p><strong><a href="https://www.allianceforyouthaction.org/fact-sheet-automatic-voter-registration-transforms-oregon-youth-registration-turnout-rates/" target="_blank">Those figures</a> mark impressive 20% and 26% swings, respectively.</strong></p><iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" id="twitter-embed-857242858297970689" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-857242858297970689&created_ts=1493217598.0&screen_name=AriBerman&text=Automatic+voter+registration+in+Oregon+increased+turnout+for+18-29+by+20%25+%26amp%3B+registration+for+voters+of+color+by+26%25%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FyYxBLgJXEG&id=857242858297970689&name=Ari+Berman" frameborder="0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="B09WM81559346789"></iframe><p>"The state already had one of the highest turnout rates in the country, and now it’s building an ever stronger voter base," Allegra Chapman, director of voting and elections at <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/?referrer=https://www.google.com/" target="_blank">Common Cause</a>, told <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oregon-automatic-voter-registration_us_58ff9c9ce4b0f5463a1a8284?utm_hp_ref=black-voices&ir=Black%2BVoices&section=black-voices&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000051" target="_blank">HuffPost</a>. "This is definitely the direction in which the country needs to go: amplifying all eligible voices to create a democracy that accounts for all."</p><h2>Efforts to pass automatic voter registration laws, like the one in Oregon, are cropping up across the country. But so, too, are laws quietly intending to do just the opposite.</h2><p>States like California, Vermont, West Virginia, and Connecticut have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/politics/oregon-voter-registration.html" target="_blank">followed in Oregon's footsteps</a>, implementing similar measures to simplify the voter registration process for constituents. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/us/politics/29vote.html" target="_blank">Many other states</a>, usually controlled by Republican legislatures, have moved in the opposite direction in recent years, passing laws that further crack down on who can vote and when they can do it. </p><div><div class="push-wrapper--mobile" data-card="image" data-reactroot=""><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTQ3MzQzOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MjgxMDYzNX0.KZZf47EVj2VJiBivQ2atfDjS2PA61GwRQrFb_rSc0XQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="b40f8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="05297f8d7926a64a8b44676e1bfc9339" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><div class="image-caption"><p>Photo by Don Ryan/AP.</p></div></div></div><p>Laws that require a voter to show up to the polls with a valid photo ID have been touted by Republicans as a means to stomp out voter fraud. But voter fraud <em>isn't</em> a widespread problem, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/09/01/voter-fraud-is-not-a-persistent-problem/?utm_term=.f05f6d9b1ddb" target="_blank">research has found</a>, and the restriction <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/new-study-confirms-that-voter-id-laws-are-very-racist-c338792c3f04" target="_blank">disproportionately prevents</a> people of color from voting — a group that, conveniently enough, tends to vote blue. </p><p>Other states have limited early voting as well — a move that, again, <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/11/07/those_insanely_long_early_voting_lines_were_a_result_of_republican_voter.html" target="_blank">affects non-white voters</a> to a larger degree.</p><p>"Access to the ballot matters," Sarah Audelo, executive director of the Alliance for Youth Action, noted to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oregon-automatic-voter-registration_us_58ff9c9ce4b0f5463a1a8284?utm_hp_ref=black-voices&ir=Black%2BVoices&section=black-voices&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000051" target="_blank">HuffPost</a>. "As a country, we should be taking a hard look at ourselves to see what are we doing to make sure that our people are able to vote, that they’re able to participate in our democracy." </p><p>Because, as Oregon showed us, our democracy works better when more of us are at the table.</p>
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