Wyden Introduces National Vote By Mail Act
Backed by a broad coalition of voting rights groups, Oregon’s Senators Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley and Representative Earl Blumenauer introduced a new bill to expand Oregon-style vote-by-mail nationwide and cut through bogus obstacles to voting.
“Too many states are making working Americans, people of color, young people and those with disabilities go to absurd lengths just to exercise their constitutional right to vote,” Wyden said. “When fewer Americans vote, the special interests and big businesses win and everyone else loses. Government can never truly represent the American people if citizens don’t have the opportunity to have their voices heard at the ballot box.”
Voters across the country have faced unreasonable delays and new obstacles to voting. This year alone: some voters in Arizona waited in line for up to 5 hours, New York is investigating why 126,000 voters were purged from voting rolls, Rhode Island slashed the number of polling places by two-thirds and 17 states have added new voting restrictions.
The American Association of People with Disabilities, American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause and National Association of Letter Carriers announced their support for Wyden’s legislation.
The Vote By Mail Act requires every state to provide registered voters the opportunity vote by mail. All registered voters will receive ballots in the mail weeks before Election Day, allowing them to carefully research candidates well ahead of time. By providing the opportunity to cast ballots in the mail, voters will be able to avoid long lines at polling stations and won’t have to take time off work to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote. The federal government, through the Unites States Postal Service, will assist states with the costs of mailing ballots to registered voters.
The bill text is available here. A one-page summary is available here.
Building on Oregon’s automatic voter registration program, this bill also improves voter registration to which reduce the burden on busy working Americans. The bill requires states to ensure that each citizen who provides identifying information to their state motor vehicle authority is automatically registered to vote.
What supporters are saying
American Association of People with Disabilities President Helena Berger: “As AAPD coordinates the REV UP Campaign to get more people with disabilities registered to vote during National Disability Voter Registration Week we are grateful to have an ally like Senator Wyden who is committed to upholding and protecting the right to vote for all citizens. The Senator's vote by mail amendment to HAVA will help increase the political participation of not only people with disabilities, but all Americans."
American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project Director Dale Ho: "The ACLU is proud to support the Vote By Mail Act because it would give all voters the option to vote by mail regardless of where they live. This is critically important now that Americans can no longer count on the Voting Rights Act’s full protections in light of the troubling voter suppression measures across the country. We look forward to seeing how the bill’s provisional automatic voter registration component develops in harmony with civil liberties principles.”
Common Cause Director of Voting and Elections Allegra Chapman: “At a time when some states are trying to make it more difficult for Americans to vote, Senator Wyden’s Vote By Mail Act is a step in the right direction of providing more Americans with another path to exercise their right to vote, and we hope Congress will consider it as part of a voting reform package. States like Oregon—with vote-by-mail and in-person voting—and Colorado—with both vote-by-mail and in-person voting at vote centers with the benefit of early voting and same-day registration—offer voters the kind of access needed today.”
National Association of Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando: "We applaud Sen. Wyden’s commitment to expanding accessibility for voters to participate in our democracy. As the public face of the most trusted government agency, letter carriers stand ready and eager to help make voting more convenient for the millions of Americans.”
Background
Wyden has long supported national vote-by-mail efforts. He introduced the Vote by Mail Act of 2007, which created a three-year, $18 million grant program to help interested states adopt vote-by-mail elections.
In 2010, he introduced the Universal Right to Vote By Mail Act, which sought to end the restrictions that many states impose on a person’s ability to vote absentee, such as the requirement of a doctor's note or a notarized statement.
Oregon became the country’s first all-vote-by-mail state in 2000, and since then, has consistently ranked among the states with highest voter-turnout in the nation. Oregon voting rates are especially high among young voters and in midterm elections, when turnout traditionally lags. Oregon’s vote by mail law has deterred voter fraud by implementing security measures such as a signature authentication system. Oregon’s system also prevents potential fraud by centralizing ballot processing in the county clerk’s office, rather than at various polling sites.
Vote by mail also has been shown to reduce Election Day costs by eliminating the need to transport equipment to polling stations and to hire and train poll workers.
