WIRE & STAFF REPORTS
The Student Vote Coalition, a group of non-partisan student voting advocates, registered thousands to vote in Eugene this year, although it fell short of numbers registered for the 2004 presidential campaign.
As of Tuesday, the last day to register, the coalition had tallied 6,855 registrations since the start of summer and 4,809 since school began, said Emily McLain, ASUO state affairs coordinator.
The results correspond with pollsters’ expectations for low voter turnout in Oregon this year. But a light turnout in Oregon would be heavy turnout in most other states.
“This is absolutely the largest voter registration drive in a non-presidential election year,” McLain said.
Since the 1960s, the turnout in presidential elections has hovered around 80 percent, and the turnout in off-year gubernatorial elections has been close to 70 percent, according to statistics from the Oregon Elections Division.
In the 2004 general election, Oregon ranked as the nation’s third-highest state in terms of voter turnout, according to a U.S. Census analysis.
The Student Vote Coalition beat its goal of registering 7,500 students in 2004, registering a total of 7,669.
Michael McDonald, a political science professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., has co-authored an analysis that debunks the usual fears of falling voter turnouts. He blames faulty statistics for the “myth” of declining participation, contending that in many states people who are ineligible to vote – either because they are felons or not citizens – are mistakenly included in the pool of adults.
McDonald said voter interest simply ebbs and flows based on the interest in the election.
In Oregon, the biggest drop-off in the past 40 years occurred in 1998, when 59 percent of registered voters cast ballots in an election that incumbent Gov. John Kitzhaber was a heavy favorite to win. The turnout returned to about 70 percent in the next gubernatorial election, when Ted Kulongoski edged out Kevin Mannix.
Despite Oregon’s history of strong participation, steps are being taken to increase turnout, such as sending reminders to voters via text message and setting up special private phones at all 36 county elections offices, where people who are blind or otherwise unable to mark their own ballots can make their choices orally.
“We don’t just want to say we’re happy that we were third-highest in the last presidential election and not do anything,” said Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, Oregon’s chief elections officer. “We want to do anything we can to encourage people to participate and vote.”
McLain said voter registration was only the first part of the coalition’s campaign.
The coalition plans to give five- and 30-minute presentations on ballot measures.
The Oregon Student Association, a group that lobbies on behalf of all the universities and community colleges in the state, is offering a voter guide designed for students.
McLain said the group was excited about the turnouts, and the number of volunteers who helped to register people.
“What’s cool to us is that every single person we registered gets to vote this November,” she said.
News reporter Jill Aho and The Associated Press contributed to this report