My entire adult life, I have lived in two states, Washington and Oregon. I have voted in every election since 2000, and have never been in a polling place. I have never had to wait in line, or take time off from work to vote. Today, I got home from work around 4:30, and found my ballot in my mailbox. I sat down with my voters guide, and filled out my ballot (including votes for Sen. Cantwell, and Lisa Brown in WA-05). Before 5:00, I had dropped my ballot off in a drop box at the local fire station. It is such a simple and easy process, that I do not understand why other states haven’t adopted it yet.
Oregonians passed Ballot measure 60 in 1998 establishing a vote by mail system. It passed 69% — 31%. Since it’s passage, Oregon has been a reliably blue state. It boasts one of the highest voter participation rates in the country. Sen. Ron Wyden has introduced legislation to expand vote by mail to the entire country, but it is unlikely that Republicans would ever let a bill pass that would increase voter turnout nationwide.
As a progressive, I feel that we are constantly playing defense on voting rights. Isn’t it time that we go on offense, and seek to increase the number of states where voting by mail is the norm and not the exception? Voting by mail will save states millions of dollars, because they do not have to staff polling places on election day. It allows voters to return their ballots through the mail, or drop off at several locations around the city. Voting by mail also benefits states by leaving a paper trail in case of a recount.
Recently, Montana considered switching to a vote by mail system, but legislators were pressured into changing their votes and killed the reform. In order for vote by mail to become widespread, it will probably need to happen through the initiative process. As more states implement a successful vote by mail system, it will be easier to refute the misinformation that will inevitably be put out by opponents. The increased turnout will likely result in a leftward shift of the electorate. If it would have the opposite effect, conservative groups would be spending millions of dollars moving this forward across the country. We need to put pressure on progressive groups to fund a nationwide campaign to increase access to the polls.
I have spent the evening searching for existing groups focused on this issue, and have found none. Please let me know in the comments if there is a reputable group working on adopting this in more states that I can link to.