I don’t live in Oregon.
But as warned by many on team “R,” and despite that fact, I sneakily registered, requested a ballot and voted in Oregon. I’ve already sent it in, in fact, weeks before the election.
And I don’t even live there.
Heck, I don’t even live in the United States.
Oh! The scandal!! So the warnings were right — eh?
Not so much. I thought I’d post this quick diary not to describe how vote by mail works, but how a well-functioning, tested, and proven vote by mail system operates effectively and efficiently — at least as evidenced by my anecdote.
You see, I’m a former Oregon resident. Lived there longer than anywhere else in my life until I accepted a job transfer and moved across the pond to Europe. I’m also a faithful voter. I don’t believe I’ve ever not voted in an election for which I’ve been eligible to vote since the presidential primary in 1976. I also don’t believe I’ve ever voted for a Republican. Quite sure of that, actually.
So, in the months between the primary (yes, we voted) and now, my wife and I dutifully have been monitoring our registration using Oregon’s online My Vote tool.
In early September, we both received an unsolicited postcard in our mailbox sent to us by our former county elections office telling us:
- When the election will be
- When our ballots will be mailed to us (September 19)
- What to do if our ballots don’t arrive as expected
- How to update our registration
- Phone, email, and street address contact information for further questions
Why, it’s almost as if they want us to vote.
Sure enough, a couple of weeks after they were mailed, my wife received her paper ballot. Mine didn’t arrive. So she sat on hers while we waited for mine to arrive. Normally, they arrive on the same day (in every election and primary since we’ve left Oregon) but there’s a first time for everything — right?
After a week, she decided to vote and submit her ballot while I followed up with the county elections office.
Because of concerns about slow or lost mail, we decided not to submit our ballots by mail. Instead, we decided to make use of an alternate submittal method for overseas voters, which allows us to submit votes by email or fax. Doing so doesn’t come without giving something. In this case, if one chooses to submit a ballot by email or by fax from overseas, you have to sign a Secret Ballot Waiver form that, obviously, documents that you’ve waived your right to a secret ballot (since whomever processes your submittal would be able to see your identity associated with your ballot).
We talked about it briefly and both agreed secrecy in this election is not that important to us. Hell, I’d paint Biden’s name (and the names of lower federal office candidates for whom we’re entitled to vote) on the side of our car if I thought it would do any good.
So she submitted her ballot. A day later she received an email saying that the ballot had been received and that another email would come once it was accepted. Sure enough a few days after that, she received an email confirming her ballot had been accepted as submitted.
As for me, I called the county elections office. Get this: an actual human being answered the phone. After dealing with American banks and credit unions from overseas for years, with endless and frustrating labyrinth-like phone trees standing between a caller and a human, it was quite refreshing to have an actual human answer the phone.
I described my situation, and she forwarded me to the person on staff who handles overseas voters. Unfortunately, that person was away from her desk. I didn’t leave a voice mail as requested by her recorded greeting — I know from long experience that no one except attorneys and clients will return a call to an overseas number. So I hung up and called back 30 minutes later. I was transferred to the person and she picked up her phone after one ring. Another real human!
She listened to my situation and a few moments later sent me, via my email address on file, detailed instructions on how to download and submit the ballot using the My Vote tool.
And so I did it. Same as my wife had done a few days earlier. Easy. Quick. Stress-free. And with clear feedback on status.
That’s how a well-run vote by mail system operates. That’s how it should operate for everyone.