Change in Total Turnout, 2012-16

[Nym90]

The Latino population of New Mexico has ancestors that have been in the US far longer than that in most states (far longer than the white population of most states in fact).

Not sure if that explains it, but makes sense that they would feel less threatened by anti-immigrant rhetoric.

[Nym90]

The automatic registration clearly did have a big effect in Oregon.

The percentage of registered voters who voted went down, as expected given people who normally would never register now are being registered, but the percentage of all eligible voters who voted went way up, proving that a lot of people will vote if you make it easy for them but won't bother to if you make it difficult.

A fact that Republicans pushing to make voting as difficult as possible are well aware of.

[Nym90]

Percent change in total vote, 2012-16:

Looking at the difference in turnout levels between Oregon and Washington states, the only logical conclusion that I can draw is that automatic voter DMV registration actually does have a major impact in people registered and turning out to vote....

Am I missing something here?

Also, Oregon saw its raw turnout decline in two consecutive presidential elections, from 1,836k in 2004 to 1,827k in 2008, to 1,789k in 2012 so it had more room to grow, whereas Washington was one of the few states that saw its turnout (in raw numbers) increase in 2012

That's one way to look at it. Another is that the reversal was quite a surprise given that Oregon wasn't a swing state, and thus the automatic registration of voters had a significant impact.