Oregon’s November Election Saw the Second Highest Number of Ballots Ever Cast in the State

In the November election, Oregon saw the second highest number of votes the state has ever cast: 1,914,923.

In part, that fits with a national trend of increased voter interest, in an apparent referendum on the Trump Administration.

But that's also because in 2016, Oregon began automatically registering voters who came into contact with the DMV. (More than 300,000 voters have been registered that way.)

Whatever the cause, the new higher voter turnout will slightly increase the requirements related to getting initiatives, referendums and constitutional amendments on the ballot.

They now will require more signatures. The rules are tied to the number of votes in the latest governor's race:

"To add a constitutional amendment will require 149,360 signatures, which is 8 percent of the total number of votes cast for governor," says a press release from the secretary of state's office. That's up "An initiative statute requires 6 percent, which equates to 112,020 signatures, and a referendum requires 4 percent, which is 74,680 signatures."