By now, a great deal of fretting has been done over the state of voting amid a coronavirus pandemic. Many conspiracy theories have been thrown out about the potential for fraud in voting during a time when everyone is supposed to be social distancing. Even in Oregon—a bastion of mail-in voting and the first state to take up the practice—locals have shared their concerns.
Some have worried whether the signature on file for them would match the signature they will submit on this year’s ballot.
Others worried when their spouse’s ballot arrived on one day, but theirs didn’t.
Others have fretted that maybe their mail carrier—the person who brought their ballots to their door in the first place—would see a campaign sign in the yard, decide they didn’t like that candidate or issue, and go rogue and discard their ballots.
Oregon, you sound like the worriers from another time, or another state. Amid all of the paranoia and fear-mongering and outright lies you may be seeing on social media and out of the mouth of the person serving in the highest office in the land, you’re voting in a state that has had this in the bag longer than some of the voters on the rolls have been alive. Oregon’s vote-by-mail system has been in place since 1998, and in 2020, it’s become the object of attention from other state leaders, who are wishing they had their voter-access game on point this year like we do. Point of fact: Republicans were the first to champion the system in Oregon, and right now, Oregon’s Republican Secretary of State, Central Oregonian Bev Clarno, is leading the charge for our vote-by-mail election this season. The few yahoo local Republicans who have tried to retweet the President’s fear-mongering about mail-in voter fraud deserve to be voted out the same way they were voted in —by mail.
In short, we got this—and here in Oregon, it’s not a partisan maneuver, as you might be led to believe.
It is completely normal for about 1% of ballots to be challenged in a typical election, Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship told the Source. It typically happens to first-timers or voters who haven’t voted in a while. Be sure to sign your ballot envelope; that’s one reason for rejection. If your ballot does get rejected, you’ll get a notice in the mail. Follow the instructions on the card to remedy the situation. Same goes for a signature that doesn’t match: You’ll get a notice—and isn’t it nice that a real-live human is checking up to make sure someone didn’t sign your ballot on your behalf?
If you’re worried about your ballot arriving, it should have done so by now. Call the Deschutes County Clerk’s office to get a new one if you don’t have yours. Same goes for a recent address change; call the clerk to get a new ballot if you don’t have yours, as you’re too late this election cycle to change your address. If you want to know if your ballot was received, visit oregonvotes.gov to find out.
And if you haven’t already signed up for Informed Delivery through the U.S. Post Office, it’s worth doing so now. You’ll get a notification about mail that’s arriving on any given day, including any future ballots.
Other issues? Call the clerk’s office. Helping you is what they get paid to do.
And as for voter fraud, it happens—close to never. Oregon has seen voter fraud happen among 0.00001% of all votes cast since 2000. Nationwide, about 25% of voters cast their ballots by mail in 2018, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Instead of placing your fear and worry and overall energy into kvetching about your signature on your ballot, the next two weeks offer plenty of other places to put that energy. Phone banks in swing states or for one of the many candidates or measures on this year’s ballot will gladly accept you as a volunteer. Elections observers are needed. And the site, protectthevote.net, is still accepting volunteers.
Peruse our endorsements found later in this issue and use them—along with the videos we’ve recorded, and the many Zoom and other online interviews other groups have conducted to be an informed voter this election season.
But chill out, Oregon voters. We got this.
Get a lot more information on local elections by listening to our Bend Don’t Break podcast, featuring an interview with Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship. Find it here.
This article appears in Oct 14-21, 2020.
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Did not appreciate your comments in your ” opinion” article regarding mail in ballots.
“Oregon, you sound like the worriers from another time, or another state. Amid all of the paranoia and fear-mongering and outright lies you may be seeing on social media and out of the mouth of the person serving in the highest office in the land…”
Very disrespectful and inaccurate comments….Voter fraud is real. Have you not been watching/reading news articles regarding ballots being discarded/misplaced/burned?
I especially didn’t appreciate your comments about our President, insinuating he was lying…
By the way, why will you be sending out your endorsements for candidates?
That is highly inappropriate. Give us the candidates’ video interviews, and let citizens make their own decisions, without your biased views.
Hi Darlene: Thanks for writing in. We’ve been endorsing candidates for nearly as long as the paper has been in existence (23 years) and we’re certainly not going to stop now. We consider our endorsements one of many tools in a voter’s toolbox to analyze candidates, based on our direct experience reporting on them and meeting with them both during election season and throughout the interim times. They are the opinions of our collective editorial board, and you are certainly free to take them or leave them. Meanwhile, if you have direct knowledge of voter fraud IN OREGON, we’d be happy to review the evidence. This piece was directed at local, Central Oregon voters. As it appears you are writing in from the state of Georgia, we can certainly understand that your situation may not be the same as that of people in Oregon… but here, we’ll be very surprised to see widespread burning, discarding of ballots or other methods of voter fraud.
I DISAGREE we have to JUST believe what we are told? GET REAL no-one trust’s voting here. I’m in Oregon BORN here my family came here in 1860s from Canada. According to ancestry I’m related to 68,000 people here. I HAVE NEVER in 50 YEARS heard another citizen say they believe Oregon votes. NEVER we have no WAY to check our ballots to see if our VOTES counted. Or to SEE if dead relatives voted and YES ballots are sent to dead people. A LIAR is a LIAR and LIES ALWAYS finds AWAY to slip up. TRUTH will come out. Everyone hates Kate Brown and ted wheeler and EVERYONE believes they cheated AGAIN