The Nightmare of Voting by Mail...........

[wandy]

Remember the good old days of voting. You would wait in line outside the polling place, most likely in the rain, then pull levers in a rush because other people were waiting.

Judges? I don't know no stinking judges.
Amendment? Raise taxes?

'Dems was 'da good old days. Now, NOW, with the ballot on your nice warm desk, a 25 in monitor and all the information in the world at your fingertips............

Should Judge 'Bla bla Blabla' be retained?
Who is this person? What is their record?
Type, read, type, read, carefully fill in the box.

State constructional amendment?
Type, read, on the fly civics course, carefully fill in the box.

Heres a real beauty.........
"Shall there be an amendment to the "State" construction protecting pregnant women.........

Wait a minute, this is the third time around for this personhood thing. I guess the RWBSFM is going to keep changing the wording until they change the personhood amendment's Image.
Carefully fill in the NO box.

My, my where did the morning go? Well at least to the best of your ability you are an informed voter.

No wonder the GOP thinks voting by mail encourages voter fraud.

Colorado Dems: We Caught James O'Keefe and His Friends Trying to Bait Us Into Approving Voter Fraud

James O'Keefe, the conservative provocateur, has been on the prowl in Colorado, the setting of a close Senate race between Democratic incumbent Mark Udall and GOP Rep. Cory Gardner, as well as a nip-and-tuck governor's contest. Last week, O'Keefe and two of his collaborators tried to bait Democratic field staffers into approving voter fraud involving Colorado's universal vote-by-mail program, according to three Democratic staffers who interacted with O'Keefe or his colleagues.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/colorado-dems-james-okeefe

[malthaussen]

1. The downside is that a centralized system is easier to corrupt.

He who controls the computers can control the election. Being the cynic I am, I always keep this in the back of my mind when computerized voting systems are proposed.

-- Mal

[Old Codger]

2. Not voting by computer

The vote by mail is a paper ballot, you have it in your possession for a couple weeks before the election gives you plenty of time to research each item as you go in the comfort of you own home, no lines no notes to carry with you and no one waiting their turn...

Absolutely love it.

If the whole country would go that route the turnout would be stupendous

[malthaussen]

3. Yep, I get that.

But the logical extension is eliminating the paper ballots altogether and linking in to the Computer Overmind. I think it would be great if everyone could sit down with a secure ballot and actually research all those obscure candidates for dogcatcher and assistant DA. It's certainly known to increase turnout by a large percentage, which is why the GOP will fight it to the death.

-- Mal

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Vote By Mail has much appeal to rural voters, many of whom are in fact Republicans

So there is a bipartisan appeal among the electorate, if not among the leaderships.

[Old Codger]

17. I was sure

You know that Oregon has had vote by mail a long time, the turnout for 2012 was over 80%. Before we started vote by mail I always voted absentee both here and where I lived before...Never seen the attempts to deter voter turnout as asinine and openly illegal regardless of what teh SC says it is totally unconstitutional.. No one will ever convince me otherwise.

[LWolf]

19. That's a different issue,

and exists whether or not one is voting at home or in a booth somewhere.

I'm happy to fight for everyone to have paper ballots whether they vote by mail or not.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed marking my paper ballot from the comfort of my easy chair this Sunday, having had time to research and ponder every issue and person. I mailed it out this week. I'm done.

No traveling, no traffic, no weather, no lines, no complications of any kind. If I hadn't found a stamp, I could have dropped it off at the lock box at the local library on my way to work...don't even need to park to do so.

[frazzled]

5. I can get my (non-mail-in) ballot weeks in advance and research, too

And I've never stood in line for a minute, ever since I started voting in 1972.

I go to the website of my local election board, type in my address, click on my name, and a "sample ballot" (printable) comes up. I print and use that to study and research before I go to the polls to vote. And I make a cheat sheet for the spouse, who is too disinterested/busy to do the research himself but is happy to have me do it for him.

I frankly don't know why people love voting from home rather than going out into their community, and I don't think your vote is more secure that way. Indeed, I don't particularly like the idea of sending my vote off in an envelope, where any number of things could happen; I like to feed it into a machine myself and watch the ticker number register my vote. But that's just me. I'm glad you voted!

[eridani]

6. If there are paper ballots, there can be audits

IMO, there should be much more comprehensive audits than now exist.

[wandy]

11. Where I am, the last time I voted in person, you filled in a paper.......

ballot and then they scanned it in. That would be very little different than mail it in.
The old mechanical (pull lever) voting machines weren't exactly tamper proof either.

In an honest world you could do it via secure net connection.
I won't hold my breath.

[Enthusiast]

4. Kicked and recommended a whole bunch! James O'Keefe is engaging in election fraud.

[wandy]

12. Not meeting James O'Keefe may have been a downside to voting by mail...........

Breaking: Crotchety old moose beats conservative provocateur senseless.

[pscot]

13. Not to wish anyone ill

but if O Keefe were to meet with tragic accident it wouldn't be much of a loss.

[Enthusiast]

18. I wish.

[Bandit]

7. Democrats, especially on this forum have been fighting against "Vote By Mail" for over a decade.

We can sometimes be the stupid Party....

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Both Oregon and Washington are Vote By Mail States now....

Good ideas spread.

[Bandit]

10. One can only hope...

Republicans have been sending out absentee ballots to all registered Republicans for several decades now..and we wonder how they get such a good turnout...

[neverforget]

16. Wife and I voted the day we got our ballot and sent the next day.

I love vote by mail!

When I lived in Montana, I had to go to the polling place and stand in line. Not a big deal but Oregon does it better.

[Louisiana1976]

14. I'm staying home on Election Day this year. That's because I mailed in my absentee ballot a couple

of weeks ago. I'm glad I was able to vote by mail. It was easy as pie.

[Jenoch]

15. I voted absentee once while I was in college.

I won't do it again unless I'm out of town on election day. I've never had to wait n line for more than five minutes. I also only wish to vote using a paper ballot.

I am also opposed to early voting. Paul Wellstone's last campaign is reason enough for me to vote on election day.

[Zorra]

20. I love voting by mail. A friend called me up to ask me about an issue

on the ballot. I told him that it was slimy wording by republicans and to vote no.

I always call the local Dem party headquarters about any bond issues or non-partisan candidates to be sure about how the party is voting on anything I'm not completely clear on.

What's not to like about voting by mail?