Vote By Mail

Another thread contained a reference to vote by mail, a practice that is practiced totally in Oregon. Instead of steering that thread from it's topic, I thought I'd consider it here.

Many are familiar with the absentee ballot concept, and it certainly is handy when one knows they'll not be able to go to the polls come election day. Oregon, after noting the large number of absentee ballot voters, ran a few smaller elections exclusively by mail-in ballots, and decided that it encouraged more participation, and of course required less expense and volunteers at the polling places come election day. As a result, they did away with the polling places and went exclusively to mail-in ballots.

You can still wait until election day to decide, but then you have to take your ballot to a designated drop and leave it by closing time.

While there is a convenience, and possibly more participation, there are some problems I see. For one is the secrecy and freedom to vote your conscience in the privacy of the voting booth. There was no one looking over your shoulder, or attempting to influence you one way or the other. I'd suspect that for the most people, that privacy and freedom is still preserved in the mail-in arrangement. There are however, some families or domestic partners with one or the other that dominates to the point that the other is coerced into voting under their watchful eye to insure they vote "correctly". The voting booth was their only option to peacefully vote privately and confidential.

As far as I know, Oregon is the only state that requires that all voters use the vote-by-mail arrangement. Are there any others?

Here in Pierce County, Washington we are "strongly encouraged" but not "required" to vote by mail.

Since so many of the polling places offer at best minimal accessibility for those in wheelchairs, I choose to take the easy way out and vote by mail.

I think you have a good point about some overbearing spouses, Empath, but I'm not certain that is something that the "state" can or should address ...

I can't think of a reason not to vote by mail, except lost or missing ballots.

The idea that really scares me is totally electronic voting. I'm sure it will eventually come to that.

I don't like the vote by mail concept- It is convenient, especially for the disabled, elderly and the terminally busy, but I have heard of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of absentee ballots not being counted, just, in the last couple of elections.

We're having problems now with the signatures. The signatures you send with your ballot are suppose to be checked against your signature from your registration. Apparently some people can't remember the style of writing they used when registering, and they appear not to be valid. I think they try sending a request for verification, but if the time is short between mailing it and the election, time runs out.

I always go to the voting booths at 2nd and Virginia here in Seattle. There's a self-opening door for wheelchairs or scooters, and you can get around in there with no stairs or ledges to get in the way. The voting booths are a bit on the shallow side, but nothing that would spoil my vote.

Just about as easy as mailing something in, since you still have to go outside and find one of those big blue urinal-like things on the sidewalk to drop your mail-in ballot into. And hopefully, nobody will **** in it before the mailman collects it the next morning. :O

So I go to the voting booth and do my ballot there.

You DO put MAIL in "those big blue urinal-like things on the sidewalk", right? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

My only wish for both absentee ballots and the booth ballots is a choice to vote for "no one" or "none"...

That way, voters who are either unsure, or are disgusted with all the candidates presented to them can choose to exercise their apathy and still vote, but just vote for nobody...

In the long run, it'll be a telling figure to tally up, because it'll show the confidence gap between voters and candidates.

Right, Falcon, and if there were enough "none of the above" votes they should have to re-run the election with some new choices until someone actually worth voting for was on the list.

(Considering that there are about a hundred million people to choose from in selecting a candidate for US President, it is amazing sometimes what turkeys we end up with to choose from ... Is this really the best we can do??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif )

[ QUOTE ]
shankus said:
You DO put MAIL in "those big blue urinal-like things on the sidewalk", right? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

hehehe!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I put an envelope with $358 in one yesterday, and $11 in the same one today. And no pee-pee. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I'd better not say *which* one, otherwise somebody from around here might come over and take a leak in it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif