Eye Recommend --- Oregon May Be 1st With Automatic Voter Registration

OREGON MAY BE 1ST WITH AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION, by Ryan Holeywell -- http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/gov-oregon-considers-automatic-voter-registration.html

Oregon's Secretary of State Kate Brown (D) wants to make voting as easy as possible for Oregonians.  She has proposed that the state automatically register a citizen to vote when a state agency has their name, age, address and a digital signature.  Initially, this would mean anyone who gets a drivers license would be simultaneously registered to vote in Oregon, but the service could be expanded to other state agencies.

"The effort would work in tandem with the unique system of voting in Oregon, launched in 1998, in which residents receive ballots by mail and either send them back or drop them off at designated sites.  That system has led to Oregon having some of the highest turnout rates in the nation."

No one should be shocked to hear that the Oregon Republican Party hates the idea saying it shouldn't be "so easy for people to participate" because they will not be "an informed voter."  Greg Leo, head of the GOP in Oregon tried to explain that his party feels that the act of registering to vote is part of the responsibility of citizenship. 

 I'm not sure Oregon has the answer to voter registration--I've always liked Wisconsin's method of allowing people to register at their election location on the day of the election, (a system under attack by Gov. Scott Walker)--but it sure sounds more democratic than the restrictive voter I.D. laws preferred by the Republican Party.