lydamorehouse | (Reply)

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Oregon's voter turnout seems to have been over 79% this time out. A combination of strongly held opinions on both sides (I think Dems were 79.9%, Reps 79.4) and a system that makes voting extremely accessible.

We went to vote-by-mail only over a decade ago (with convenient drop boxes, including drive-ups, for people who don't want to use a stamp or don't vote until too late to use the post). I remember commentators on NPR at the time bewailing the choice, something about how the voting booth is a symbol of our democracy, yadda yadda. My reply was along the lines of "A voting booth belongs to the government, and is only brought out once or twice a year. My kitchen table belongs to ME, and is an everyday part of my life. Which is a better symbol of democracy?"

Plus, I can fill out my ballot on my schedule, with resource materials handy, kind of like a take-home test. Which was always my favorite kind. With this system, I no longer get ambushed by local or county races that didn't get in the paper or on the radio, because I can set the ballot aside, go online to research the candidates, then come back to it.

(Oregon also publishes a really killer, non-partisan Voter's Guide.)