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When you are voting for a dozen candidates and a dozen ballot measures, it takes time to read through all of them and make sure you are marking the correct boxe

When you are voting for a dozen candidates and a dozen ballot measures, it takes time to read through all of them and make sure you are marking the correct boxes, even when you know how you will vote in advance.

blacksmith_tb 8y ago
This is another reason (along with preventing remote hacks etc.) that vote-by-mail[1] is much more reasonable. It provides you with as much time as you need to look up candidates and issues. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon
- tolas 8y ago
  Can confirm from Colorado. They send everyone a vote by mail application whether you ask for it or not.
- int_19h 8y ago
  I don't know about Oregon, but in Washington you also get a thick voter pamphlet that goes over all the candidates and issues in great detail, including candidates' statements about themselves. For initiatives (referendums), it even has statements by pro and con groups, and rebuttals of each others' statements. And you get that way in advance of the election, too, so there's plenty of time to go over it and do any additional research you feel necessary. Here's an example from this year. https://www.kingcounty.gov/~/media/depts/elections/how-to-vote/voters-pamphlet/2018/08/edition-2-en.ashx?la=en https://www.kingcounty.gov/~/media/depts/elections/how-to-vo...
  - russdpale 8y ago
    Yeh its pretty great. I used the pamphlet and googme to look up all of thr candidates while I had some beer. Best voting experience ever.
  - blacksmith_tb 8y ago
    Yes, same in Oregon, though the pamphlet is oddly organized, with the candidates for different races jumbled together. The for/against arguments after the text of each ballot measure are very useful, as much for their arguments as to see what organizations are spending time and money to defend or defeat them.
- hackandtrip 8y ago
  Sure, but you lose vote secrecy.
  - nine_k 8y ago
    Not necessarily. Grab a set of ballots in a public library, randomly from a pile, the way you can grab a set of tax forms. Send them from an arbitrary public mailbox at a busy place, like a train station or a mall. This should make tracking impractical, unless you expect "them" to scan for fingerprints.
  - ddingus 8y ago
    First, the vote is double enveloped, should you choose to do that. Not everyone does. It gets validated, then passed along for counting. Second, if you want, you may drop your ballot into any drop box, or hand deliver it to elections, who will validate it and put it into the counting queue.
  - blacksmith_tb 8y ago
    Not so much, it shifts secrecy from flimsy booths at a polling place to the voter, who presumably fills out their ballot in the privacy of their home, and then you have the option of dropping it off directly at the county elections office dropbox instead of mailing, if you're worried.
- burfog 8y ago
  That article says: "30% of respondents said they voted more often since vote-by-mail was enacted." Uh, you're only supposed to vote once. Now the ballots show up, you can fill them out for all family members, even if recently deceased, and vote for everybody. That spouse doesn't need to vote. The high-school senior is too busy to do their own voting. The truly ambitious can even grab ballots out of mailboxes, adding them to their pile.
  - saulrh 8y ago
    Voted more often than they used to, which was once every fifteen years.
  - blacksmith_tb 8y ago
    They routinely reject ballots for not matching signatures - I had one returned which I had certainly filled out myself.
GCA10 8y ago
U.S. ballots also randomize the candidates' names, so that you can't scan each new list quickly by alphabet or political party to look for the person you intend to vote for. The result is that it takes more than a few seconds of sustained concentration to make sure that you're marking your ballot as intended. That's especially true when individual offices attract many small-party candidates.

blacksmith_tb 8y ago

This is another reason (along with preventing remote hacks etc.) that vote-by-mail[1] is much more reasonable. It provides you with as much time as you need to look up candidates and issues. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote-by-mail_in_Oregon

tolas 8y ago
Can confirm from Colorado. They send everyone a vote by mail application whether you ask for it or not.
int_19h 8y ago
I don't know about Oregon, but in Washington you also get a thick voter pamphlet that goes over all the candidates and issues in great detail, including candidates' statements about themselves. For initiatives (referendums), it even has statements by pro and con groups, and rebuttals of each others' statements. And you get that way in advance of the election, too, so there's plenty of time to go over it and do any additional research you feel necessary. Here's an example from this year. https://www.kingcounty.gov/~/media/depts/elections/how-to-vote/voters-pamphlet/2018/08/edition-2-en.ashx?la=en https://www.kingcounty.gov/~/media/depts/elections/how-to-vo...
- russdpale 8y ago
  Yeh its pretty great. I used the pamphlet and googme to look up all of thr candidates while I had some beer. Best voting experience ever.
- blacksmith_tb 8y ago
  Yes, same in Oregon, though the pamphlet is oddly organized, with the candidates for different races jumbled together. The for/against arguments after the text of each ballot measure are very useful, as much for their arguments as to see what organizations are spending time and money to defend or defeat them.
hackandtrip 8y ago
Sure, but you lose vote secrecy.
- nine_k 8y ago
  Not necessarily. Grab a set of ballots in a public library, randomly from a pile, the way you can grab a set of tax forms. Send them from an arbitrary public mailbox at a busy place, like a train station or a mall. This should make tracking impractical, unless you expect "them" to scan for fingerprints.
- ddingus 8y ago
  First, the vote is double enveloped, should you choose to do that. Not everyone does. It gets validated, then passed along for counting. Second, if you want, you may drop your ballot into any drop box, or hand deliver it to elections, who will validate it and put it into the counting queue.
- blacksmith_tb 8y ago
  Not so much, it shifts secrecy from flimsy booths at a polling place to the voter, who presumably fills out their ballot in the privacy of their home, and then you have the option of dropping it off directly at the county elections office dropbox instead of mailing, if you're worried.
burfog 8y ago
That article says: "30% of respondents said they voted more often since vote-by-mail was enacted." Uh, you're only supposed to vote once. Now the ballots show up, you can fill them out for all family members, even if recently deceased, and vote for everybody. That spouse doesn't need to vote. The high-school senior is too busy to do their own voting. The truly ambitious can even grab ballots out of mailboxes, adding them to their pile.
- saulrh 8y ago
  Voted more often than they used to, which was once every fifteen years.
- blacksmith_tb 8y ago
  They routinely reject ballots for not matching signatures - I had one returned which I had certainly filled out myself.

GCA10 8y ago

U.S. ballots also randomize the candidates' names, so that you can't scan each new list quickly by alphabet or political party to look for the person you intend to vote for. The result is that it takes more than a few seconds of sustained concentration to make sure that you're marking your ballot as intended. That's especially true when individual offices attract many small-party candidates.