Oregon uses vote-by-mail (VBM) exclusively in its elections. Some people outside of our state, however, think this is a terrible idea. One in particular is some blogger named Brad Friedman, who contends that VBM is a "terrible idea for democracy." The concern he cites (as written by Colorado elections "expert" Claudia Kuhns) are, for the most part, alarmist and do not speak well to Oregon's system. It's also interesting that he asserts VBM is just another arm of "partisan politics." I don't think I'd heard that one before...

After speaking with several friends who work in early voting at Reed College's Early Voting Information Center, I feel comfortable to rebut some of the ideas he cites. Although the following arguments stem from Colorado's system, here they're applied against Oregon. Let's take a look at them one-by-one:

Lack of Transparency - Ballots are mailed in secret and counted in secret on secret software. Ballots are counted at a central location that makes fraud on a large scale easier to accomplish and harder to detect. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse data shows that approximately a third of computer security breaches are done by insiders either intentionally or accidentally.

Like most of his and Kuhn's noted concerns, the anguish centers on the idea of mailing a ballot and potential fraud stemming from that. But this one strikes me as strange. Couldn't one accomplish wide-scale fraud in just about any election, regardless of VBM status? I just don't see how this is a unique problem with VBM. The software is the same style of electronic scanning as the SAT and many other ballots. It doesn't strike me as any sort of electoral cabal.

Lack of Security - Ballots in hundreds of thousands of locations with no security for two to three weeks. The chain of custody lacks security as the ballots are handled by many anonymous persons throughout the process. Any unmarked contest on a ballot can be marked by someone other than the voter when the ballots are opened for counting.

The ballots are within security envelopes under strict guard in the days leading up to the election. The envelopes bear the signature of the voter, which is scanned against state records to confirm identity. I guess someone could forge a signature, but, really? That's going to be damn hard to pull off, considering it's tied to the person's official state ID. Furthermore, there's strict security control and monitoring when the ballots are actually opened to be counted.

Voter Intimidation - Voting can be done as a group at churches or union halls with people looking over the voter's shoulder to make sure they vote "the right way."

I'd say the real voter intimidation is done in states like Indiana, where people have to present photo ID to vote. But that's for another blog post. There is no evidence to suggest that this is happening in Oregon, and other options exist in unreported cases of intimidation. Beyond that, people are not required to vote en masse just because they receive the ballot in the mail. For example, an individual can choose to vote in-person at the election office. This point has no factual merit and is purely speculative -- they just want to see a problem where one doesn't really exist.

Election Fraud - There is no way to be certain that the person who signed the envelope is the person to whom the ballot was sent. Ballots can be stolen from mail boxes while the voter is at work or away from home on an errand. Other tactics include vote harvesting by persons who show up at your door to "help" you vote. The elderly and those with disabilities are particularly vulnerable.

Ah, the who-signed-the-ballot question... again. To answer the rest first, you're not required to mail the ballot. One can choose to either vote in-person or drop the ballot at a designated drop site which is not handled by the post office at all. Moreover, I've never, ever heard of "vote harvesting." As for the signatures, there's a scanning system that's pretty solid at detecting fraud for the signatures. Unless there's deception all the way down to someone fraudulently getting a driver's license under the name of another, this is really pretty moot.

Potential for Ballot Mishandling - Post office or contract mailing company illegally forwards ballots, more than one ballot sent to voters, postal workers putting ballots in the trash. (All of these thing have happened in Colorado, 1100 ballots illegally forwarded in Douglas County, 214 voters received two ballots in Boulder County, ballots found in dumpsters at post office in El Paso County.)

Again, you don't need to mail the damn ballot if you don't want to.., at least here in Oregon. If necessary, you can directly call the elections office to see whether or not your ballot has been received. If not, and you are pretty sure it has been lost, you can order another and effectively nullify the first. There were a lot of television commercials about this fact, so I can only guess that most of the electorate knows how to order a replacement ballot if necessary. The double-ballots happened in Oregon this year and was a non-issue, with no reported fraud resulting.

Lack of Secret Ballot - When election judges check in your ballot, they can see how you voted when they match the inventory number on your ballot to the inventory number next to your name on the voter rolls. The Colorado Constitution guarantees your right to a secret ballot...

Once the ballot has been cleared as being acceptable, it's removed from the security envelope and becomes indistinguishable from every other ballot. At that point, this concern becomes moot. Please explain better what isn't "secret" about this ballot, again? I don't quite buy it.

I guess I'm not surprised at this blogger's thoughts on VBM. There will usually be some who express alarm over foreign methods of voting, especially as concern for ballot integrity. But the truth is that VBM is a good system. It saves money while not decreasing turnout, and is just really damn convenient -- especially for the elderly and disabled. The concerns expressed above are alarmist and uninformed about the nuances of Oregon's system.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on VBM and stories about your experiences with the system -- especially in light of our recent election. Just drop a comment and share!