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Yes, this is political, but no, I'm not stating any positions on candidates or issues here. I'm taking a moment to, once again, express glee at Oregon's vote-by-mail system. I love it. I love having the time to research things and then vote on them, without having to write down a list to take to the polling place with me. (Frankly, I am NOT one of those people who can remember the name of every candidate they want to vote for in every race. And I can't just look at party because, while I have a tendency to vote more toward one party, I don't vote party lines. It's just that party tends to field candidates closer to my personal views. Some years they don't get as many votes as others.)
I also love that it gives so much back to the poor, the schedule-hassled, the busy. You don't have to go out of your way to get an absentee ballot if election day is when you're out of town, or you can't get the time off work because you need to pay the bills, or your polling place is somewhere inaccessible. You have a couple weeks to fill your ballot out. It DOES cost a stamp to mail it, which is a pity; on the other hand, if you can reach one of the drop-off sites (similar to "if you can reach a polling place" I suppose) then you needn't pay postage at all. There are drop-off sites all over the state, some open 24 hours a day, some not; many are at libraries and city halls, but not all. This year, Multnomah County has 24-hour drop box sites at a hardware store, a Goodwill store, a McDonald's, two library branches, Pioneer Courthouse Square downtown, and the elections office. That's just the 24-hour ones. (I pick on Multnomah instead of any other county because they have the most diverse set of drop box sites; many counties stick much more closely to library/city hall/elections office type places. Mine, for example, ONLY has those types of drop sites. Then again, we have a lot of libraries, and we don't have the bulk of the metro area including Portland proper, as Multnomah does.)
Your ballot is mailed to you. When you fill it out, you tuck it inside a secrecy envelope and seal that. Then you tuck THAT inside an outer envelope, seal, and sign that. The signature on that envelope asserts that it's you, but in theory - and I assume in practice - that envelope is separated from the inner one once they confirm you, and the inner one chucked in a pile for later counting, so your vote remains anonymous.
For bonus points, once they receive it (when they collect from the drop box, or when it arrives in the mail), they validate the exterior envelope and mark it down that you've voted. Among the interesting side effects, all the campaign ads STOP CALLING YOU shortly thereafter because they can find out that you've already filed your ballot, and they no longer have any incentive to badger you. (Talk about an incentive to vote early....)
I also love that it gives so much back to the poor, the schedule-hassled, the busy. You don't have to go out of your way to get an absentee ballot if election day is when you're out of town, or you can't get the time off work because you need to pay the bills, or your polling place is somewhere inaccessible. You have a couple weeks to fill your ballot out. It DOES cost a stamp to mail it, which is a pity; on the other hand, if you can reach one of the drop-off sites (similar to "if you can reach a polling place" I suppose) then you needn't pay postage at all. There are drop-off sites all over the state, some open 24 hours a day, some not; many are at libraries and city halls, but not all. This year, Multnomah County has 24-hour drop box sites at a hardware store, a Goodwill store, a McDonald's, two library branches, Pioneer Courthouse Square downtown, and the elections office. That's just the 24-hour ones. (I pick on Multnomah instead of any other county because they have the most diverse set of drop box sites; many counties stick much more closely to library/city hall/elections office type places. Mine, for example, ONLY has those types of drop sites. Then again, we have a lot of libraries, and we don't have the bulk of the metro area including Portland proper, as Multnomah does.)
Your ballot is mailed to you. When you fill it out, you tuck it inside a secrecy envelope and seal that. Then you tuck THAT inside an outer envelope, seal, and sign that. The signature on that envelope asserts that it's you, but in theory - and I assume in practice - that envelope is separated from the inner one once they confirm you, and the inner one chucked in a pile for later counting, so your vote remains anonymous.
For bonus points, once they receive it (when they collect from the drop box, or when it arrives in the mail), they validate the exterior envelope and mark it down that you've voted. Among the interesting side effects, all the campaign ads STOP CALLING YOU shortly thereafter because they can find out that you've already filed your ballot, and they no longer have any incentive to badger you. (Talk about an incentive to vote early....)
no subject
On the one hand, I am envious of the convenience. We have early voting, but one still has to go to a certain location. Not as convenient as tossing it in the mail.
But on the other hand, after 30 years of voting, physically going to the polls on the first Tuesday of November (and in May) has become, for me, a very important part of the whole process. The thrill of voting would lose a bit of its luster without that part. But the way it sounds, that thrill may already be less lustrous if the lines at the polls end up being as horrid as they are predicting ;-)
no subject
King County is going to all-mail in ballot soon, so when I renewed my driver's license this summer I signed up for permanent absentee. I mailed mine in early, and was wondering why all the calls this week have been for Steve (normally for some weird reason, I get them, maybe because alphabetically I'm first?).
We have to sign the outside envelope, and then they can take the ballot out and it's anonymous. It never occured to me that it serves just like a sig on the roster.
I do miss going to our polling place though. It's staffed every year by the same cute little old ladies and one elderly gentleman, who have literally seen me go through all my pregnancies and seen the kids grow up in the 2-3 times a year we see them. :) Steve still casts a regular ballot, but now it's more convenient for him to go on his own...but I'm tempted to keep up the ritual becuase the kids enjoy it and it's a good thing to imprint on them I think. ;)
no subject
only one idealistic complaint
My only complaint is that the mail-in ballot isn't a secret ballot. You can verifiably sell your vote, or be coerced: Your company/union boss can suggest that everybody bring their ballots in to mark up on Monday, and the organization will mail them for you Tuesday, and indicate how strongly he recommends that he sees you fill in a particular circle.
It seems like a distant possibility in today's world, especially when that kind of vote fraud is competing against Direct-Frauding Electronic voting machines at the polls (and other fraud possibilities before we even get into the pollbooth). But I'm sad to see the voters move away from one of the tenets of trustworthiness.
(jonh)
Re: only one idealistic complaint