Switching the default rule quadrupled Oregon’s motor-voter registrations

Evidence

Voting rules are another example. In most every state (North Dakota is the excep­ tion), citizens must register in order to vote. Under federal law, states must offer eligi­ ble voters the ability to register at the department of motor vehicles when they receive or renew their driver’s licenses. Traditionally, it has been the obligation of the voter to register—​the default rule, in other words, is that a citizen has to register, following the state’s registration process, or else he is not allowed to vote. Recently, though, a number of states have moved to a system of automatic registration. Oregon, for example, has a new system in which all eligible voters are automatically registered to vote when they obtain or renew their driver’s license. They are notified of this by mail, and have a chance to opt out, but this is something most people do not do. By simply switching the burden of registration from the individual to the state, Oregon registered nearly four times as many people at the Department of Motor Vehicles as it did under the old system. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1344

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Court rulings plus organized drives exploded black voter registration within months — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 83