Secretary of State Kate Brown is encouraging all Oregonians to celebrate National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) today by helping register eligible Oregonians to vote.
“If you’re not registered, you can’t vote. Your vote is your voice, and every voice matters.” said Secretary Brown.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and Secretary Brown will be visiting Oregon high schools to encourage eligible students to register.
“The simple step of registering to vote gives each person the power to make our country and our state better places. We want everybody to register and exercise that power,” said Sen. Wyden.
NVRD is being celebrated across the country by Secretaries of State and more than 700 organizations, including the YWCA, Tumblr, Patagonia, the League of Women Voters, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Univision. NVRD is a non-partisan event with participants from across the political spectrum. The goal of the project is to boost voter registration and increase civic engagement.
In Oregon, Secretary Brown led a social media campaign to encourage people to vote. She asked students, newscasters, legislators and others to pose for a photo with a poster that says, “I’m registered to vote. Are you?” The photo is then posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or the social media of your choice.
Don’t forget the hashtags:
#OregonVotes
#CelebrateNVRD
Although we celebrate NVRD on September 23 this year, eligible Oregon voters have until October 14 to register for the November election. Paper registration forms must be turned into county elections officials by 5pm. You can register online until 11:59pm if you have a current valid Oregon driver’s license or state ID card. Go to www.OregonVotes.gov and click on My Vote.
Last week, nearly 900,000 postcards were sent to Oregonians who are eligible to vote according to DMV, but who do not appear to be registered. This is part of Oregon’s participation in the Electronic Registration Information Project (ERIC), a multi-state, bipartisan effort to use sophisticated data matching to improve the accuracy of voters rolls.
“I strongly encourage all eligible Oregon voters to get registered,” said Secretary Brown. “Every vote counts. I know first-hand. I won my first election by seven votes. Register in September. Make it count in November.”
