Online voter registration starts today

Oregon today became the fourth state in the nation to offer voter registration online.

You can register or update your registration (change your address or political party, for example) at www.oregonvotes.org.

Online voter registration will not only save the state money, but may also serve as a useful tool for registering younger voters.

From a story in today's Oregonian:

In Arizona, the first to offer electronic registration in 2002, 70 percent of new voter registrations are now done online. In Maricopa County, registration costs dropped from 83 cents per paper transaction to 3 cents per online transaction.

Washington also has saved money with its online registration, which accounted for a third of all new registrations in 2008. The cost for each registration dropped from $1.55 on paper to 45 cents online. About 30 percent of the people registering online are between ages 18 and 24, said Shane Hamlin, assistant director of elections for Washington.

A study released last year by the Pew Center on the States put the total cost of registering voters in Oregon in 2008 at $9.7 million. The study found that 220,243 new registrations along with updates produced 1.2 million transactions, at a cost of $8.43 per transaction.

The voter registration deadline for the May 18 primary is April 27, but why put off now what you can do today?