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P H O T O C O U R TE S Y O F T H E O R E G O N BUS PRO JECT
Old, new legislation may m ean more access to voting in the State o f Oregon
BY JAKE THOMAS
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
For more information on the
Oregon B us Project.go to: www.
busproject.org
Voter turnout in Oregon could see an
increase among low-income individuals,
students and others around the state.
With less than 10,000 people registering
to vote through public assistance
agencies, lawmakers and advocates are
pushing for change.
“The number of people registering at
(social service) agencies have been
dropping like stones,” said Nicole Zeitler,
director of public agency voter
registration for Project Vote, a national
organization that seeks to increase voting
rates.
Lawmakers in Salem have quietly
passed a bill this past legislative session
that could result in a significant number
of under-represented Oregonians being
registered to vote.
With strong bi-partisan support, the
Oregon Legislature passed a bill signed by
Governor John Kitzhaber that establishes
a 10-member council charged with
determining if the state is in compliance
with a federal law that requires social
service and other public agencies to offer
clients the opportunity to register to vote
when applying for benefits.
Specifically, the council made up of
the state election officials and other
members appointed by the governor - will
be looking at how well Oregon is
complying with the National Voter
Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), a
Clinton-era law often referred to as the
“motor-voter” act for its requirement that
people be given the opportunity to
register to vote at the Department of
Motor Vehicles when getting then-
driver’s license.
The NVRA also includes a lesser-known
provision that mandates that any
applicant for public assistance (including
food stamps, Medicaid, disability and child
health care) or disability services be
offered the opportunity to register to vote
when applying for benefits. The same
requirement goes for other federally
funded agencies and institutions,
including universities, veterans affairs
and, interestingly, military recruitment
“However, this provision has been
poorly upheld for years,” sajd Zeitler.
Although some early lawsuits established
the constitutionality of the NVRA, Zeitler
said that compliance with the law’s
provision that voter registration is offered
at public assistance agencies has dropped
off over the years due to a lack of
institutional commitment from state
governments.
Data from the U.S. Electoral
See VOTING, p
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