Oregon has conducted all of its statewide elections entirely by mail since 1998. A Huffington Post<\/a> article explains how it works:<\/p>\n

The process is simple. It\u2019s secure. And it means residents don\u2019t have to worry about leaving their houses and risk getting the coronavirus in order to vote. They don\u2019t even have to worry about putting a stamp on their ballots; Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed a law last year that requires the state to pay for ballot postage.<\/p>\n

\u2026There are so many benefits to Oregon\u2019s vote-by-mail system that it\u2019s a wonder why other states haven\u2019t already made mail-in voting an option for every voter, never mind during a public health emergency. The system is simple: Ballots are mailed to all registered voters\u2019 addresses three weeks before each election, along with a pamphlet of information on candidates and issues. Voters mark them, sign them and drop them in a mailbox. Election officials verify every signature \u2015 clerks are trained in forensics and will contact you if your signature doesn\u2019t match \u2015 and tally the results, which are easy to reproduce for recounts. They\u2019re also hard to manipulate, which reduces the risk of foreign interference in U.S. elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t hack paper,\u201d said the governor. \u201cYou can replicate and verify the results.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also cost-effective. Brown said while her state still operates some polling stations, its vote-by-mail elections cost 20% to 30% less than in-person voting because of reduced costs from staffing polling stations and ballot counting systems. Beyond that, Oregon has one of the highest voter participation rates in the country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let\u2019s all be more like Oregon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oregon has conducted all of its statewide elections entirely by mail since 1998. A Huffington Post article explains how it works: The process is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1253,3538,573],"tags":[2403,3539],"yoast_head":"\n