Oregon becomes the first state to automatically register voters

On Monday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed the nation's first law automatically enrolling a state's eligible residents to vote. Under the groundbreaking legislation, every unregistered adult who has interacted with the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles since 2013 will receive a ballot in the mail before the next election; 17 years ago, Oregon became the first state to vote entirely by mail-in ballot.

"It just changes expectations for who's responsible for making elections work," University of Wisconsin political scientist Barry Burden tells The Associated Press. "In every other state it's the responsibility for the voters to make sure it happens."

The 300,000 people expected to become registered under the law will be notified of their new status by mail, then given the chance to opt-out or affiliate themselves with a political party. The DMV says its data can determine if a person is a citizen and thus eligible to vote. Oregon's registration rate of 73 percent is already one of the highest in the U.S., and 70 percent of registered voters mailed in ballots in the 2014 election.

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