Nearly 100,000 Oregon ‘Motor Voters’ took part in election

Oregon Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins announced Monday that 97,184 ballots issued through the Oregon Motor Voter program were returned for the Nov. 8 general election.

The figure accounts for 42.73 percent of about 230,000 total ballots issued to automatically registered voters in Oregon for the November election.

“This is fantastic news,” Atkins said. “These numbers tell us is that 97,184 Oregonians who may not have otherwise voted exercised their right to vote because of Oregon Motor Voter,”

“We know that democracy observers around the country have been waiting to see how these automatically registered voters turned out. Today, we can report that those who chose a party with the Oregon Motor Voter process voted at nearly the same rates as traditionally registered Oregonians.”

Of the OMV participants who registered as Democrats, 84.08 percent returned ballots, and 84.06 percent of Republican OMV participants returned their ballots. In comparison, 86.6 percent of total eligible Democrat voters returned their ballots and 88.1 percent of total eligible Republican voters returned their ballots for the recent election.

Nonaffiliated OMV participants returned their ballots at a rate of 35 percent. This compares to a total return rate for nonaffiliated voters of 59.3 percent.

“We have good reason to be proud of these numbers,” Atkins said. “Oregon Motor Voter participants helped us reach the record number of ballots cast in any election – 2.02 million. As more Oregonians become automatically registered and new voters develop voting habits, this pioneering program will help increase overall participation in our democratic process.”

Overall, 78.9 percent of total eligible voters returned their ballots for the Nov. 8 election.