The American Democracy Minute Radio Report and Podcast for November 2, 2022
Today’s Links
Articles:
National Conference of State Legislators – All-Mail Ballot States
The Conversation – Mail-in voting lessons from Oregon, the state with the longest history of voting by mail
Brennan Center for Justice – Records Show Massive Disenfranchisement and Racial Disparities in 2022 Texas Primary
Pew Research – Two Years After Election Turmoil, GOP Voters Remain Skeptical on Elections, Vote Counts
Groups Taking Action:
National Vote at Home Institute, Common Cause, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Today, we’re exploring all-mail-in voting, used in eight states with great success and with somewhat higher voter participation. Mail-in ballot Conspiracy theories are unlikely to stop the states which have successfully implemented it. Why? Because both voters and election officials like it.
Eight states conduct their elections mostly by mail: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington. Other states like Alaska, Minnesota and New Mexico, allow for all-mail ballots in small jurisdictions, and in certain kinds of elections.
An all-mail state sends a ballot to the citizen’s voter registration address. The voter completes their ballot, signs an affidavit, and returns it in the usually postage-paid return envelope.
Oregon uses the signature on the ballot to match the signature on the voter registration file, and all states have severe penalties for misuse. In its three decades of mail-in voting, Oregon officials report only about a dozen cases of actual fraud. Oregon and other mail-in ballot states also allow online tracking of that ballot, and have embraced convenient, secure drop boxes.
Like other forms of mail-in ballots, voters say they like the convenience. “Kitchen table” voting allows citizens to carefully select their candidates from the safety of their own home, and helps elders, the disabled, voters without transportation and voters living in remote areas to exercise their sacred right to vote.
We have links and articles at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org
For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.