Oregon reaches out to inactive voters via social media

The Oregon Secretary of State's office on Tuesday launched a pilot program that will use Facebook to encourage voters to update their voter registration information.

“Recent digital advances have created voter outreach opportunities never previously imagined,” said Secretary Dennis Richardson. “Facebook’s robust capabilities will allow us to communicate directly with inactive Oregon voters and encourage them to update their registration information to receive a ballot in November.

It's being touted as a first-of-its-kind pilot program, reaching out to Oregon voters listed as inactive and notifying them that they need to update their registration to receive a ballot this November.

The video announcement started running Tuesday, targeting residents on the Elections Division’s inactive voter list. The ads will continue to run until the voter registration deadline on October 16, 2018.

The agency has budgeted about $5,000 for the outreach effort.