Oregon is joining Washington and a handful of other states in pioneering the use of online voter registration.

In Salem, Oregon lawmakers have just sent their online bill to Governor Kulongoski for his signature. Secretary of State Kate Brown,who introduced the measure after conferring with Washington election officials, said in a statement  “Not only will this make registering to vote easier, safer and more secure, but will bring voter registration to where so many young people live: the online world.”

The Oregon system will be up and running by next March. Arizona and Washington were the first two states to adopt the system and Utah, Colorado, Indiana, California and now Oregon have authorized it. Louisiana may join the parade this month.

The Washington system, authorized by the Legislature in 2007,  was quite popular in its first year of operation in WA, starting January of last year. During 2008, nearly 160,000 of the voter registrations handled by the state Elections Division used the online method — roughly a quarter of the year’s business, even with many potential voters still unaware of the service. Analysis showed that the younger the voter, the more likely to use online registration (a full 30 percent of the 18-24 year olds, trailing off to less than 5 percent of those over 65.)

Another 27 percent of the 2008 registrations reported by the Elections Division came in from DOL offices’ “motor voter” sign-ups, so less than half of all registrations were the old-style method of going to the county courthouse or getting signed up at cardtables at the local library or county fair.

The state’s election page has a handy click-on, a mouse icon that leads an eligible voter through the process quite easily. All you need is your birthdate and your driver’s license info.  Here is more info on how it works, and personalized info is also available on the elections homepage through the MyVote icon. Take a look! Sign up if you’re eligible!