THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 16, 1996 TAG: 9601160012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Low voter turnout is a dispiriting fact of democratic life in America. The state of Oregon thinks it has a possible solution: No voter turnout.
Oregon began experimenting in 1981 with voting by mail. Voters don't go to the polls, the polls come to them. Beginning small, with local elections for school board and the like, Oregon has now worked itself up to the nation's first vote-by-mail election for a U.S. Senate seat.
Here's how it works. A special election is being held to replace Sen. Bob Packwood. Ballots went out to all registered voters between Jan. 10 and 12. They are due back no later than Jan. 30.
Voters receive the ballot itself and two envelopes. They mark their ballot and place it in a secrecy envelope to prevent anyone from learning how they've voted. The secrecy envelope then goes inside a second return-mail envelope which the voter signs on the back flap.
Down at the election office, each signature is verified against a copy put on file when registering. Envelopes with valid signatures are opened and secrecy envelopes are sorted by precinct. When the deadline for voting passes, an almost instant count can be made.
According to reporter Jeff Mapes of the Portland Oregonian, the system has succeeded in increasing turnout. The number of voters participating in local elections has risen from the usual abysmal 10 percent to 15 percent range to above 25 percent. The norm is a 5 percent to 10 percent increase.
In the statewide mail primary to choose candidates to replace Packwood, the response was a respectable 57 percent. By way of comparison, the turnout in Hampton Roads cities for last November's hard-fought General Assembly contest was 45 percent.
Mapes says vote by mail is also less expensive. A statewide race in Oregon typically costs $1.5 million. The mail version is expected to cost a third less - about $1 million.
Critics claim an element of civic ritual is lost by the mail method and also worry that the campaign continues for two weeks even as voters are marking ballots. Fraud appears no more likely than under the conventional method since the same signature verification protocol is used. But there has been concern that arm-twisting by organized groups is a possibility. Anyone trying it would risk a stiff felony penalty, however.
There's also been concern that some voters may find the multi-step process confusing and that the need to provide a stamp discriminates against the poor. But it can also be argued that not having to physically visit the polls makes voting available to more people. The Oregon results seem to favor that view.
The biggest worry may be the unreliability of the mails. So far Oregon hasn't had trouble, but it's easy to imagine a serious disruption of an election if the mails were to lose ballots.
Clearly, voting by mail is no cure all for voter apathy, but it's one attempt to solve the problem of low turnout and seems to hold promise. It's worth a look. by CNB