Registered voters increase in Jackson County, so do unaffiliated voters

MEDFORD, Ore.– The Jackson County Elections office says a record number of ballots will be mailed starting April 28 with a number of those being unaffiliated with any major party in the state.

According to the center 148,928 voters have been registered for this year, up by about 5,000 from the Nov. 18, 2016 election.

This year, the number of nonaffiliated voters increased to 46,257, higher than the current amount of Democrats at 43,957. That number is also closing in on the 46,895 Republicans recorded in the county.

But Jackson County Election’s Clerk Chris Walker says the increase may be due to motor voter registration.

That’s where people are automatically registered to vote at the DMV, but have to follow-up if they want to be affiliated with a particular political party.

“I really think the majority of people, they get the postcard in the mail and they either choose to ignore it or it just get’s set aside,” she said.

Voters who want to vote in the May primary may still switch party affiliations as long as they do it before April 24.