Washblog

Based largely on Oregon's successful experience with VBM, some advocates and policymakers are eager to import all-mail elections to other states and abandon America's centuries-old practice of polling place voting.

We think that might be unwise. Here's why.

#   Vote by mail is only as reliable as the mail delivery.

First class mail, as its name might imply, does not treat everyone equally. In fact, it discriminates against low-income communities and dense urban areas where residents move more frequently and not every adult shares the same family name. This bias is codified in U.S.P.S. Domestic Mail Manual...In Oregon's Multnomah County (Portland), for example, 6 percent of mail ballots were returned as undeliverable in the 2004 election.

#   Vote by mail's effect on voter turnout is at best neutral, but may favor affluent voters.

MIT political scientist Adam Berinsky writes: "VBM in Oregon accentuated the stratification of the electorate. Specifically, VBM mobilized those already predisposed to vote--those individuals who are long-term residents and who are registered partisans--to turn out at higher rates than before."

#   Vote by mail is more susceptible to corruption than voting at polling places.

A 1997 Miami mayoral election was overturned ...

#   Vote by mail is amenable to manipulation by election officials.

 Election officials in many states can decide to mail ballots to only a subset of registered voters, leaving other voters waiting by the mailbox.

This is exactly what happened in Denver recently.

#   Conclusion
Thanks largely to Oregon's experience, many reform-minded advocates and policymakers have become persuaded that vote-by-mail stimulates increased voter turnout with few drawbacks.

We think the facts don't support their arguments. VBM reinforces the stratification of the electorate; it's more amenable to both fraud and manipulation than voting at polling places; and it depends too much on the reliability of the U.S. Postal Service.

End clips

Source

Vote-by-Mail Doesn't Deliver
Tom Paine    6/23/07     Michael Slater and Teresa James
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/06/29/votebymail_doesnt_deliver.php

Teresa James is an election counsel and Michael Slater is deputy director of Project Vote, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides research, guidance and technical assistance to voter participation and voting rights organizations

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Project Vote led the case against Washington State's SoS with respect to the overly strict matching criteria in the state's voter registration data base.