Oregon's All-Mail Voting: The Best Voting System in the Nation!

[Demeter]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_prof__ro_060104_oregon_s_all_mail_vo.htm

January 4, 2006

Oregon's All-Mail Voting:
The Best Voting System in the Nation!
by Prof. Robert D. Fischer


Oregon, with slightly more than two million registered voters, is the
only state with all-mail voting. All elections in Oregon are vote by
mail. The only reason that we Oregonians have this system is that
voters here insisted upon it, and took the initiative to make it
happen.

Why we love it so

The reasons for the Oregon system's popularity with the voters are not
difficult to understand. It is far more convenient to vote at your own
kitchen table than to go to a local precinct and stand in line to vote.
Everyone can fit voting into their schedule no matter how busy they
are. Voters have at least two weeks to vote, and that allows plenty of
time to study the voters' pamphlet, and to research and discuss the
issues. Another big advantage to voters is that they do not have to be
physically present on that one day designated as Election Day. The
study cited above showed that women with small children, the disabled,
young people on the go, and retirees, are all more likely to vote by
mail than at a precinct.

Election supervisors like it because mail in voting actually improves
voter turnout. In the 2004 election, almost 87% of Oregon's registered
voters cast ballots. The study cited above also showed that neither of
the two major parties gained an advantage from mail in voting.
Mail-in balloting allows for centralized supervision and control of
ballot processing in county elections offices, and permits election
officials to maintain uniformity of standards, and strict compliance
with law throughout the state.

Taxpayers have good reason to like the system, too. The cost of
conducting all-mail elections is one-third to one-half the cost of
polling place elections. For example, the May 1994 polling place
election cost Oregon taxpayers $4.33 per ballot. The May 1995 vote by
mail election cost only $1.24 per ballot. The reason is
obvious: Oregon does not have to recruit, hire, train, and supervise
thousands of precinct workers.

In addition to being more convenient for the voters, advantageous to
election officials, and much cheaper for the taxpayers, mail in voting
offers greater security over ballots, and guarantees the integrity of
the ballot count. Oregon does not suffer from the hassles of
understaffed, relocated, or closed precincts, or battles over
provisional ballots, recalcitrant, too few, or missing voting machines.
Best of all, with mail in balloting, massive voter fraud is virtually
impossible. There are no easily hacked touch screen voting machines,
and there is a permanent paper trail.


====================================================

Robert D. Fischer, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus from California State
University - Fresno, where he was the Director of the Peace and
Conflict Studies Program. He is active with the Bandon Bill of Rights
Defense Committee, and the Oregon Coast Peace Wave. [e-mail].

[movonne]

1. This should be done everwhere....but I think the gov. should pay postage..

[tmooses]

4. During the runup to the 2004 "election" I spent alot of time picking up

ballots from voters (elderly, handicapped, etc.) who could not make it down to a local drop off box to vote. I know for those of us who are mobile it seems very easy to find a drop off box in a 2 week period, but there a lot of folks who are unable to make it out. I don't know about the govt. paying for postage-it seems like the majority should be able to drop off their ballots in a 2 week period-but for those unable to be mobile it would be benefit them.

[Reader Rabbit]

6. Is the price of postage really a deterrent?

I don't mail mine, but that's because there's a drop box at my local library branch, which is only about 200 yards from my house.

[SharonRB]

2. Just one note --

It's election fraud, not voter fraud.

This would be a great system for all states to adopt.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. The best part:

There are no easily hacked touch screen voting machines,
and there is a permanent paper trail.

[barbaraann]

5. Wrong.

Dear Oregon Citizen,

The Oregon Voter Rights Coalition has studied Oregon’s election process thoroughly and has reached a conclusion: Overall, Oregon has a very good election process that is conducted with integrity and professionalism. However, it has a major vulnerability.

And you can help correct it.

Oregon elections need a mandatory election audit procedure. Oregonians vote with a paper ballot, but our ballots are scanned and counted by computers programmed by private corporations that use trade secret software that cannot be viewed even by election officials. These companies have highly partisan political and financial conflicts of interest. An election audit would be the most efficient way to verify that computer tallies reflect that the votes were counted as cast by the voter.

In an election audit, election officials hand count a scientifically determined random sample of paper ballots. This is a simple, reliable and inexpensive way to verify the accuracy of the computer count. The audit sample must agree with the computer count within a small margin of error. If the sample is outside this margin, all the ballots for that race must be recounted by hand.
...
http://www.oregonvrc.org/node/527

[TrueAmerican]

7. I think it's wrong

Why only males voting, don't women have a say?

[Dervill Crow]

9. Who said only males vote? Did I miss something? n/t

[TrueAmerican]

10. All-male voting?

That would mean only men, correct?

[Dervill Crow]

11. Oh, duh. LOL

Smack me upside the head!

:banghead:

[0rganism]

14. That's how you'd sell it in the bible belt states

"Non-male voting? Why does you so hates America an our foundin fathers? It's Tom an George, not Thomasina an Georgina!"

Talk about ballot measures that pass in a landslide...

[musiclawyer]

8. In our lifetime , it will be all mail ballot all the time, everywhere

I advise election coordinators part time. The issue is how screwed up will things get in the interim

[TheBaldyMan]

12. all postal ballot piloted last time I was supposed to vote in UK

There were Nazis running in the local elections so I was rather keen to cast my vote. Absolute shambles, when I finally found out I wasn't on the electoral roll I registered to vote only to be told that I wouldn't be processed in time for the election.

Result - huge numbers of people excluded from voting and BNP got a collection of local councillors. Perhaps the government shouldn't have introduced lots of differing pilot schemes at once at the same time as putting in a new voter registration programme.

added after edit: I have always voted in local and national elections, if I want a postal ballot I'll ask for one. If people can't be bothered to vote they shouldn't complain about their politicians. You also get the government you don't vote for.

[cliss]

13. Speaking as an Oregonian, here's our experience

with the system. Long before the election, we got our mail-in ballots. We looked them over, discussed the topics over dinner.

Next, our voters pamphlet arrived in the mail. Over dinner, we discussed the issues, decided how we were going to vote = Democratic, all the way.

Last, we dropped the ballots off at the library. We could have stuck stamps on them, but it's free to drop them off at many locations.

Easy, convenient.