Reply #33: Vote by Mail in Oregon [View All]

January 1, 2005

Vote by Mail


Oregon’s Secretary of State, Bill Bradbury has a piece on voting by mail in today’s Washington Post.



Perhaps now that we’ve had two badly run presidential elections in a row, Oregon’s innovation will get some respect. Please forward this article to your congressional representatives! Going to a national vote-by-mail system presents a reasonable solution to many of the problems experienced in Florida and Ohio.

Vote by mail works. It’s cheaper, turnout is higher, and it provides an automatic paper trail. The biggest criticism I hear about it now is that people miss going to their polling places because of the social aspect. On the other hand, they like having two weeks to sit down with the state-provided Voters’ Guide and think about what and who they’re voting for.

Concerned voters everywhere should push this solution to their state legislators, as they’re the ones who can truly pass election reform. It’s so reasonable–and it saves money.

Link:
http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2005/01/01/vote-by-mail/