Oregon has a long and proud tration of innovative ideas and government. We were the first state to create public beaches; we were the first state to pass a bottle bill; our land use laws remain a national leader in reducing sprawl; we are the only state to allow terminally ill patients to choose their own time in passing; and, as Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, noted in today's Washington Post, we lead the nation in election reform:
This month, as controversies emerged in other parts of the country over polling place problems and malfunctioning touch-screen machines, we here in Oregon prepared to swear in a new crop of elected officials with nary a question about the legitimacy of the count or the functioning of our electoral process. We accomplished this with a turnout on Nov. 7 that was, once again, among the highest in the nation...
Read on below the fold.
I realize that there are many vote-by-mail nay-sayers in this blog. But folks in Ohio, Florida, or any other state with touch screen balloting and no paper trail should take a serious look at vote by mail systems.
As Bradbury notes, Vote by mail is:
- More convenient for voters:
Election days were originally scheduled on Tuesdays because that was when farmers brought their crops into town to sell. Today on an average Tuesday people balance multiple jobs, soccer practice and child care. Voting by mail gives them ample opportunity to stay engaged in our most crucial democratic process.
- Less susceptible to tampering and fraud:
The system has proven to be fraud-free. Oregon is one of only two states in the nation to verify every single voter signature against the signature on that voter's registration card. Our process is transparent and open to observation. Finally, the returned paper ballots, which are the official record of the election, can be recounted by hand.
With voting by mail, Oregon's turnout is consistently among the highest of any state without same-day voter registration. We don't suffer with long lines at polling places, with voter harassment or intimidation, with fears about malfunctioning or easily hacked voting machines, or from lack of a paper trail. Even floodwaters don't keep voters from participating. Under Oregon law, mailed ballots are not forwarded if a voter has moved, and those returned ballots have allowed us to maintain one of the cleanest and most up-to-date registration lists in the country.
- Cost effective:
Voting by mail is also a cost-effective way to run elections, costing taxpayers about 30 percent less than polling-place elections.
If efficiency, integrity, accuracy, increased participation, and cost effectiveness are legitimate goals of our electoral system, then more states should consider adopting vote-by-mail. It's much better suited to the modern lifestyle than polling place elections.