REPRESENTATIVE KNUTE BUEHLER OPPOSES MOTOR VOTER BILL ON HOUSE FLOOR
Salem, Ore. – Today the House voted to pass HB 2177, the universal voter registration bill. Representative Knute Buehler stood on the floor to oppose the legislation and released the following remarks:
“As a citizen – Republican, I like the idea of making voter registration and voter participation easy. It’s why I’m a supporter and advocate of vote by mail. I’m a Republican that believes my Party needs to do a better job of competing for the hearts, minds and votes of the high turn-out, independent electorate that already exists in Oregon – thanks, in part, to existing laws that make both voter registration and voting easy.
But as a libertarian-leaning Republican, I dislike the idea of the state government intruding into the personal decision and choice of each citizen to register to vote. Automatic voter registration replaces individual convenience with government coercion.
Oregon already has some of the highest voter participation of any state in the nation. That’s a good thing. And we’ve done so by making voting easy and appealing to the civic responsibility of our citizens. I fear taking the responsibility to register to vote away from the individual citizen and putting it in the hands of a large and impersonal government — actually undermines liberty and undermines the responsibility of each citizen to be civically engaged. Registering to vote is the right and responsibility of each American citizen. It should be very convenient and very easy, but not the law.”
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