By State Representative Cyrus Javadi
Oregon has been voting by mail for more than 25 years. Now the Trump administration wants the Postal Service to impose new rules on how states send ballots just weeks before an election.
People who live in Pacific City, Wheeler, Gearhart, and all of our other coastal communities don’t have an elections office or a dozen drop boxes around the corner.
We depend on getting our ballot. Having time to do the research. And then putting our completed ballot in the mail.
So what are the facts about vote-by-mail?
Well, from 2000 through 2019, Oregonians cast roughly 61 million ballots. There were 38 criminal convictions for voter fraud.
That’s about 0.00006%. That’s one fraudulent ballot for every 1.6 million ballots cast.
That’s what Republicans want you to believe is widespread fraud and abuse.
And sure, let’s acknowledge that vote by mail isn’t perfect. I don’t think any voting system is. But let’s be clear, the evidence simply does not support the claim that Oregon’s system is riddled with fraud.
Honestly, it’s safe and effective. And it makes voting easier for people who live a long way from the courthouse.
President Trump has repeatedly attacked mail voting and pushed to restrict it. And some Republican leaders, and many commenters on my FB posts continue to raise fears about widespread fraud that the evidence simply does not support.
That bothers me.
Because we can disagree about taxes. Healthcare. Immigration. Roads. Education. I mean, pick an issue. Literally any issue.
They are hard enough to solve without making things up.
So, let’s argue the issues. Let’s stick with the facts. Let’s be honest about the consequences.
And, then most importantly, let the voters decide how their elected officials did at understanding the problem, ignoring the politics, and then got the job done.
#OregonElections #VoteByMail
