For many Americans, last year’s presidential election was the first time they had ever cast a ballot by mail. The pandemic changed the way some states conducted elections, giving more people the chance to carry out their right to vote in a way that did not involve standing in a long line at a crowded polling place.
In Oregon, coronavirus was mostly a non-factor when it came to the 2020 election. Oregonians, as they have for a generation, received their ballots in the mail and returned them via the mail or at a drop box.
“Vote by mail, up until recently, was the most boring topic in Oregon politics, because it’s worked so well for so long,” said Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan.
This year in Salem, Democratic lawmakers have served up a wide array of ideas to make Oregon’s famously easy-to-use voting system even wider open. More than a half dozen voting-related bills remain in play with the potential to become law.
If so, it would follow a trend.
In recent years, though lawmakers expanded ballot access by creating an automatic voter registration system that signs up any eligible voter who interacts with the state’s DMV. And in 2019, the Legislature approved a bill that removed the need to use a stamp to return ballots by mail.
Fagan, a Democrat who took office in January, is continuing the conversation this year. In February, she testified at a meeting of the House Rules Committee in support of several bills that would change the way Oregon conducts its elections.
Those measures are among the bills still in play at the Oregon Capitol this year that relate to how we vote, namely:
- House Joint Resolution 11: This is a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow voters to register up to and including Election Day. Oregon currently requires voters to register at least 21 days in advance of an election. (For instance, people who want to vote in the May 18 election for school boards and community college boards next month have to register by Tuesday.) This advance registration requirement was enshrined in the state constitution in the 1980′s amid fears of a political takeover by followers of Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh in some central Oregon communities. The proposed change would need to be approved by voters. The proposal received two public hearings in February in the House Rules Committee. It’s co-sponsored by two Democratic lawmakers: Sen. Michael Dembrow of Portland and Rep. Dan Rayfield of Corvallis.
- Postmarks count for mailed-in ballots: In Oregon, the deadline to return a ballot is 8 p.m. on Election Day, regardless of whether the ballot arrives by mail or in a ballot drop-box. Every election cycle, officials hammer home the message that “postmarks don’t count.” That leads to an obvious question: When is the last day to safely mail a ballot? “It isn’t just one answer,” said Fagan. “Depending on where you live and the postal service in your area, the date to mail the ballot may be different. We need to make that equitable.” Fagan supports a proposal that would have Oregon join states such as Washington that count ballots as valid as long as they were postmarked no later than Election Day. House Bill 3291 has an amendment that would also set a deadline of seven calendar days following Election Day for the ballot to arrive. So if the ballot gets lost in the mail and is delivered three months later, it wouldn’t count.
- Senate Bill 776: This bill would pave the way for 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in school board elections. Supporters say students should be given a say in the selection of the people who oversee their education. Opponents say teens aren’t mature enough to participate in the electoral process. The proposal, sponsored by Dembrow, would ultimately require a voter-approved change to the Oregon Constitution. The Senate Rules Committee held a public hearing on the bill March 11 but has scheduled no additional action.
- House Bill 2681: Registered voters who habitually don’t vote couldn’t be purged from state voter rolls under this measure. It was introduced by Rayfield, and the House approved it with strong bipartisan support, 52-2, on April 16. It’s now awaiting action in the Senate. Current law allows elections officials to change a registered voter’s status to “inactive,” meaning they are no longer mailed a ballot, if they haven’t returned a ballot in 10 years.
- Ranked choice voting: At least three bills would fundamentally change the way Oregonians select many of their elected officials by implementing ranked choice voting for local, nonpartisan elections. This method invites voters to rank their candidates in order of preference, rather than simply selecting their favorite. Proponents say it eliminates the “spoiler effect” where two candidates with similar positions siphon off votes from each other, allowing a third candidate with vastly different values to win, despite receiving less than 50 percent of the vote. In a ranked choice election, if no candidate receives at least half the vote, then the last-place candidate is eliminated and the “second preference” choices of that candidate’s supporters are redistributed until there’s a clear winner. The system of voting was used for the first time in Oregon last November in Benton County, which employed the system for a pair of county commissioner races. The Senate Rules Committee held a hearing on ranked choice voting in March, but has not scheduled additional action. A similar bill in the Oregon House has not received a hearing.
All of these bills are alive more than halfway through the session, but that doesn’t mean they will win approval by June.
Normally by now, it’s possible to have a good sense of what bills are moving forward, and which have been relegated to the recycling bin.
Elections bills are different. They’re usually assigned to the few committees that don’t have mid-session deadlines to advance legislation, so they generally are considered still alive right up until the final gavel falls.
The Link LonkApril 26, 2021 at 10:03PM
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2021/04/oregons-famously-easy-to-use-voting-system-could-get-even-less-restrictive.html
Oregon’s famously easy-to-use voting system could get even less restrictive - OregonLive
https://news.google.com/search?q=easy&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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