Voting Right

I want to spend some time on Oregon issues. As we get closer to November 8th, many people will be waiting to cast their votes, but Oregonians may have turned in their ballots a few weeks before that. I will turn in my ballot before that. It makes sense to address local issues earlier, but I want to start with the process.

There have been some calls recently for making election day a national holiday. Support has come from Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and President Obama himself. I understand why they support it, I get what they are going for, and it is not the answer.

The people who get federal holidays off are already the ones with the fewest obstacles to voting. There is a larger percentage of the population who does not. Your barista works on federal holidays. So does your nurse, and your retail salesperson, and your friendly local police officer. Some of them fill positions where there needs to be someone available at all times, and for some of them it's just a matter of maximizing profits when other people are off and have time to shop, but a new holiday would not benefit them.

Voting by mail will.

I have been voting long enough to remember before we had vote by mail. That includes a memory of getting home late one rainy night and the precinct had been moved, and I came really close to not getting there in time. Even without that, I remember that no matter how hard I would pore over the voter's pamphlet, there in the booth some things would be hard to remember.

It is a wonderful thing to be able to fill out the ballot at home, looking things up when I am not sure, and getting the batch of envelopes for the whole household ready to drop off (or mail, but we usually drop them off).

That can fit into any working schedule. Because it creates a paper trail, it can address concerns about voter fraud. It's beautiful. It's effective.

It takes away the long lines, and the opportunities for voter intimidation. Sure, those who like to manipulate the process will start looking for new ways to do so, but it cuts off a lot of their old ways.

I know some people like the feeling of civic engagement they get going into the little booth, but I respectfully suggest that there might be other ways to get that feeling, and possibly where the efforts are more helpful. Churches that have offered bus rides to the polls can have ballot parties, and trips to cast the completed ballots.

Rest of the US, Oregon has something to teach you. (Yes, I know we're not the only ones doing it now, but we started it.)

Nationwide, let's move to vote by mail.