Jezebel's Journal - Election day in Oregon

06:45 am May 20th, 2008




			Jezebel's Journal - Election day in Oregon Why, yes, it IS all about me

kightp


	Election day in Oregon
	... and it's raining. Of course. We have our traditions to uphold, after all. Yay, rain! You won't see exit polls for the Oregon primary - or if you do, they won't be particularly reliable, since the vast majority of us have already voted over the past two weeks, thanks to our vote-by-mail system. About the only people "going to the the polls" today will be those dropping off their mail-in ballots at their county elections offices (or other designated dropoff points). Some few folks do that because they enjoy the civic ritual of putting their ballots in a box, but fewer every election. This year, thanks to the protracted Democratic primary, the rest of the country actually cares what happens in Oregon. That's cool. Rare, too - I've seen reports that the last time an Oregon primary counted in the greater scheme of things was 48 years ago, when John F. Kennedy carried the state over Adlai Stevenson (and favorite son Wayne Morse). You know what else is cool? I haven't heard a single person this year put forth the "why should I vote, my vote doesn't count" argument. Say what you will about the Democratic battle-to-the-death, it's made people in small states like Oregon feel as if they matter, and that's not a bad thing. If you're an Oregon voter and you haven't returned your ballot yet, here's some stuff you need to know: * It's too late to mail your ballot. Postmarks don't count. If you want your vote counted, you have to drop it by the county clerk's office or some other official drop site by 8 o'clock tonight. You can find the address here. * If you're standing in line by 8 p.m., you'll be allowed to vote. * Don't forget to sign the back of your outer return envelope. That's how the clerk verifies you are who you say you are. * If you never got a ballot but believe you're registered in Oregon, go to the County Clerk's office and ask to fill out a provisional ballot. Take along something that proves your current address (ID, a bill, whatever). Tags: elections, politics, weather I feel ...: patriotic

15 comments or Leave a comment


	Comments

	From: hhw	Date: May 20th, 2008 02:23 pm (UTC)		(Link)

and then there are those of us who just can't resist a good deadline. I'll be in class at 8pm, so I won't hold out until the bitter end, but I probably won't fill out my ballot until this afternoon.

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	From: kightp	Date: May 20th, 2008 02:30 pm (UTC)		(Link)

*grin* It's people like you who keep the process interesting. Otherwise the pollsters could just call every Oregon voter and tell us the outcome now.

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	From: sanguinity	Date: May 20th, 2008 04:52 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I finished filling mine out this morning, and will be stopping by Central at lunch.

Assuming I have my ballot with me--

Yes! Yes, I do! I'm so clever!

And this, folks, is who your fellow electorate is. ;-)

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	From: blaisepascal	Date: May 20th, 2008 02:55 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I'm not an Oregon voter, but I have a question about process...

What happens to my ballot if I had dropped it in the mail yesterday and for reasons beyond my control the USPS doesn't deliver it (with yesterday's postmark) until tomorrow?

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	From: hhw	Date: May 20th, 2008 03:06 pm (UTC)		(Link)

it won't count -- the system is not postmark-based. they have to receive it (or you have to be in line to drop it off) by 8pm today.

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	From: blaisepascal	Date: May 20th, 2008 03:17 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Could you hand-deliver it before today? If you can't make it to the "polls" today, what options were available to ensure your vote counted?

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	From: hhw	Date: May 20th, 2008 03:22 pm (UTC)		(Link)

yes; I think the ballot boxes have been out for at least 2 weeks. In Portland, that means some city offices as well as all public library branches throughout the county.

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	From: kightp	Date: May 20th, 2008 03:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Yes, each county has a drive-up drop box outside the courthouse, and there's also the option of walking it ain any time.

But the last possible moment for voting is 8 tonight, just as it would be for a conventional election. If people don't turn in their ballots by then, they don't get counted.

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	From: kengr	Date: May 21st, 2008 02:05 am (UTC)		(Link)

Actual;ly, the drop boxes here are about half a mile from the courthouse.

And as they just stated on the news, if you are in line outside the office at 8pm, your vote will still count.

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	From: kightp	Date: May 20th, 2008 03:45 pm (UTC)		(Link)

*nod* The press has been full of warning to "mail buy X date," too.

Really diligent voters can call the county clerk's office to see if they're listed as having voted - those lists are published daily, largely for the benefit of the political parties and pollsters. (A side benefit: Once you're on the "voted" list, you *stop* getting those damned campaign robocalls!)

We've been using vote-by-mail for a decade, since it was insituted by voter initiative. Despite predictions of fraud and disenfranchisement by those who are wedded to the old way of doing things, the system has been throughly tested, scrutinized and proven to work. Not only that, but we consistently have among the highest voter turnouts in the nation, and among the lowest incidences of vote tampering or fraud.

See also:

Vote-by-mail information, history and independent assessments from the state elections division, including a Vote-by-mail FAQ

A Better Way To Vote (2006 Washington post Op-ed by former Oregon secretary of state Bill Bradbury)

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	From: eleri	Date: May 20th, 2008 04:57 pm (UTC)		(Link)

And, it makes things interesting, cause the results take longer to get ;)

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	From: kightp	Date: May 20th, 2008 05:08 pm (UTC)		(Link)

They used to, but not so much any more.

The counties pretty much have the system down to an art - for instance, they'll have already done most of the signature verification scanning and separated the ballots from their signed envelopes by the 8 p.m. closing time. So there's no reason they can't begin counting immediately. And since it's highly automated, all you have to worry about are the scanning machines going down.

Given the issues in states that still conduct elections the "traditional" way - from electronic voting machine failures to delays in transporting ballots from some polling places to the counting place - I wouldn't expect the Oregon results to take any more time than anyone else's this year.

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	From: sanguinity	Date: May 20th, 2008 05:06 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I personally know of at least one persistent case of within-household coercion that was never reported for safety reasons. I have no idea how prevalent that sort of situation is; I'm not seeing much mention of it in the links I read.

However, I agree, there are other kinds of voter fraud that become far tougher under this system, including the precinct-based ones perpetrated by the government. Maybe I've gone all super-cynical, but I think that's an excellent feature of doing it this way.

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	From: kightp	Date: May 20th, 2008 05:09 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I think coercion has *always* been possible, and I don't think vote by mail changes that for better or worse. I can remember hearing stories of abused women who were physically prevented from going to the polls by their spouses, for instance.

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	From: kengr	Date: May 21st, 2008 02:03 am (UTC)		(Link)

You'd be screwed. Friday was "officially" the last day you could mail a ballot and still be relatively certain it'd arrive in time.

The envelopes are distinctive, so I suspect the postal service separates them out for special handling in the first sorting stage.

That sort of thing is one of the reasons so many folks are lined up (on foot or in cars) outside the county elections office to drop off their ballots.

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