SALEM, Ore. (AP) — In this era of manipulators using social media to interfere in elections, Oregon is instead using Facebook to bolster voter participation by contacting inactive voters to remind them to update their registration.
Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson said Tuesday it’s a “first of its kind pilot program.”
In Oregon, a citizen can become an inactive voter by being mailed a ballot or other election material and it being returned as undeliverable, by a lack of voting or registration activity in 10 years, if their ballot has been challenged, or if the person is imprisoned on a felony conviction. Under Oregon law, the right to vote is restored upon release from incarceration.