Voting in Oregon RULES.

Our primary is today, so I wanna do a thread about what it's like to vote in a fully vote-by-mail state. No reason...

Several weeks before election day, voters get ballots in the mail, and EVERY household in the state gets this voters' pamphlet. This gives people time to register if they want to, and it shows them how, even info about the parties. (My cats knocked over a vase onto it, sorry.)

It has clear straightforward information about voting eligibility, voters' rights, and how to get help if you need it.

(BTW, US citizens in OR are automatically registered when they register for a drivers' license. You can also register starting at 16 to vote when you turn 18.)

It clearly tells you the deadlines and how to vote. It also makes it easy to see where your nearest ballot drop box is, in case you don't vote by the mail-in deadline.

This info is in ~20 languages, w/more online (the book itself is English/Spanish, but other languages online)

There is even info to combat misinformation and attempts at voter fraud, and information about how your vote is kept secure and how the counting is done.

Most importantly, every candidate for every office can submit a bio/blurb. Even if you don't pay attention to local politics or don't know what a Commissioner does, you can read their stances and qualifications.

Every ballot measure is included with full text and a plain language explainer of what will happen (eg "taxes will increase by $50/year and schools will get $17 million"). Any interest group or individual can submit arguments for or against, so you can read those as you consider.

You are encouraged to read over the ballot and the voters' pamphlet, and talk it over with your family as you vote. Here's what the ballot looks like, since I haven't posted that yet.

The candidates are randomized on the ballot (and in the same order in the booklet), so there's no indication who has big money behind them. Platforms treated equally. Here's an angry rando running for the GOP US Senate nom. He gets the same treatment as actual serious candidates.

Because I have time to review, I've found I'm way less likely to go 'eh, the incumbent is probs fine', and actually vote for the person whose platform best matches my beliefs. Oregon's incumbents have a huge advantage just like everywhere, but the playing field is way more level.

You put your ballot in the envelope (first tweet), which has your name and address. You sign to make it official, and mail it (no stamp). Each ballot has a QR code so you can track—see when it is received, opened, and counted.

There are also secure dropboxes in each district.

We get a buttload of election mail. A lot goes straight to recycling, but IMO it is actually useful here. I took an hour to vote this short ballot, while eating dinner, reviewing the mailers and the voters' pamphlet. In NYC, I felt guilty going over 5 minutes in the voting booth.

And guess what, people vote! This photo is from our primary in *2017*. This was the line to drop off the ballots at my local dropbox, about an hour before it closed on election day. Once again, that's a primary election in a year with no national offices on the ballot.

I did this thread bc this is how you run elections when you WANT ppl to vote. As few barriers as possible, convenient, satisfying, accessible to all, provides information/resources, actively eliminates as much fraud/suppression as possible, as uniform as possible across districts

There are problems with this as with any system. But: look at the evidence. Judging by the mechanics of your elections, does YOUR state/district WANT you to vote? YOU, specifically, as well as people who are not demographically like you?

A democracy SHOULD want its people to vote. Our president himself said the quiet part loud: if more people vote, Republicans lose. Even Trump's base, I have to believe, wants fair elections.

Also: that's only BARELY true. The GOP has brilliantly gerrymandered, stacked courts, and made suppressive laws—there IS Dem advantage to more voting, but small. Voting in numbers is the ONLY way to even TRY to combat decades of structural manipulation. https://www.wired.com/story/weird-partisan-math-vote-by-mail/

He and his goons are talking shit about mail voting and trying to shut down the postal service, BECAUSE it works, BECAUSE they do not WANT most of us to vote. Oregon is proof that vote-by-mail works AND levels the playing field. It's a better way to vote https://www.sightline.org/2018/12/13/voter-turnout-oregon-tops-charts-2018-midterms/

Voting by mail WORKS and we have models for doing it WELL on a LARGE scale. Oregon isn't the only one.

Don't ignore attempts to take it away. They do not want you to vote. Lemme say it again: THEY DO NOT WANT YOU TO VOTE. Fight for vote by mail! thank you ted talk etc.