Want a blue state? EZ Answer: mail-in ballots. 87% of Oregonians voted in 2008

[Snoutport]

You want to know why Oregon is so blue? Because more of us vote than any other state and we do so by mail in ballot. (you can also vote in precincts on the day of the election just like every other state). Many states have more Democrats than Republicans but getting them to the ballot box is not an easy task. How many people can't vote because they have two jobs and don't have any time off on Tuesdays? How many have last minute sick kids or are ill and can't vote?

Oregon solved all those problems. We get our ballots in the mail, we have ten days or so to vote, the stamp is cheaper than the gas to drive to vote, 87% of the people vote, you can do your homework while you are voting, there is a paper ballot for a recount, one friend invited his nephew and all of his 18 year old friends to a party and together the whole group of us read and debated the ballots and people who were running. At first I was very sad that I would not get that all-American feeling of going to the polls to vote...and I do sorta...but I always tell myself I can go down and vote in a booth on election day if I want. I just never do because the convenience of mail-in balloting always wins out. AND, as far as I've read, there has been no big case of any type of vote tampering or messing with the system.

If we make it easier for people to vote, more people will vote. Since there are more Democrats in the country it only goes to figure that more Democrats will vote.

I don't know the whole mathematical equation behind it all, but we see it in the numbers here in Oregon.

Y'all need to start getting ballot measures up for votes and join the mail-in revolution! If you know more people will vote, it is the most Democratic way to vote.

[Denninmi]

1. Voter suppression is a Republican mainstay.

They do everything possible to make it hard to vote, especially in Democratic districts.

[Snoutport]

2. THen the people need to do ballot measures!!!

if this was on the ballot in 2012:

5% raise in the minimum wage
2% raise in taxes on millionaires
Mail in voting

you would have: a huge turn out and passage of all three bills. (most likely)

[cascadiance]

3. I talked to Douglas Jones, voting expert a few years ago about voting technologies. He had concerns

... about all mail-in voting technologies. He's a professor at University of Iowa and is an expert on voting technologies and was used on the film "Hacking Democracy" as its technical advisor.

He noted to me as he does in the following article...

http://www.examiner.com/election-reform-in-denver/jonesing-for-voting-technology-truths

...
"I'm afraid we'll switch to mail ballots, which use paper ballot systems. I don't look forward to the large scale expansion of paper ballots and mail ballots." says Jones.

"You see risks with paper ballots?"

"The EAC has initiated a risk assessment study. Elections are complex. It seems politics drives legislation. Whoever is in power makes and changes the rules for their benefit. It is important to understand the risks of all systems, machine technology and paper ballots."
...

He noted to me specifically that he was concerned that Oregon has a good system that is working now, but that had concerns that we don't still have enough laws/rules around it to prevent abuse of it were the Democrats to be out of power of administering it. So if we are advocating it going in to effect in other states without the officials controlling it being Democrats, that it is an infrastructure that can get abused. We need more codified laws, procedures and standards to use as a template that folks like him can start giving their blessing to that will prevent such corruption before they get woven in to the system. That was a few years ago prior to my moving to Oregon and having personal experience voting here, and he might have changed his opinions on this since that time if he's seen changes that alleviate some of those earlier concerns.

Voting in this system now, I can see that Oregon has done many good things to ensure that a lot of things are done fairly with layers of abstraction there to help keep intact the security of a secret ballot too, though Jones has also voiced his concerns of rules to prevent privacy abuses as well as election fraud. If we use it as a model for other states, we need to do it with care to make sure that we truly put in place a system with integrity in those other states that don't allow for flaws to creep in that might just be being handled with implicit rules, etc. here now as opposed to more explicit and necessary rules needed to work in other states.

[alstephenson]

4. Oregon? The same state whose voters passed tax increases?

Weren't all of the corporations, small businesses and rich people supposed to immediately leave the state? Oh, that didn't happen. But the state is able to provide the level of services that its voters expect. Good on Oregon - wish I lived there.

[Snoutport]

5. we have insurance for all our kids too :0)