Vote-By-Mail

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to warn of a gathering threat to American's most fundamental constitutional right; that is, the right to vote. Fifty-one years ago, President Johnson urged the Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. In the face of implacable opposition from Southern States, President Johnson laid out the stakes. He said:

Every American must have an equal right to vote. There is no excuse which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right.

Sadly, half a century after that law began to remove the most offensive obstacles to voting, Americans now face new barriers to exercising their fundamental right to vote. Across our land, there are stories of long lines, inexplicable purges of voter rolls, and new requirements that make it still harder for our people to vote. There is absolutely no excuse for accepting this sorry state of affairs.

There is no excuse for citizens in Arizona to wait 5 hours to cast their ballot. There is no excuse for citizens in Rhode Island to find two out of every three polling places have closed. There is no excuse whatsoever for poor communities and minority communities across America to see their polling places shuttered.

Seniors and disabled Americans should not have to wait in long lines or struggle to reach polling places in America. Working parents should not have to choose between going to work and going to vote. Voting should not be a test of endurance. It should not be a Kafkaesque experience in defeating bureaucracy and wading through redtape. Increasingly, too many voters show up at the polls on election day, only to find that their name--somehow, magically--has gone missing from the voter rolls or their ID does not meet some new, even more burdensome, even more restrictive requirement.

There is no excuse for our government to turn away citizens and to say their vote does not count because of a clerical error or an unjust technicality. These grossly unfair obstacles have sprouted like weeds across our country ever since the Supreme Court overturned large portions of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, just this year, 17 States have passed new laws or rules to make it harder for their citizens to vote.

Let me repeat that. Seventeen States in America, just this year, have passed new laws, new rules, and new hurdles for our people who want to vote. Thankfully, there is a solution. My home State of Oregon has led the country in making voting more accessible. In Oregon, every voter receives a ballot 2 or 3 weeks before election day. Ballots should be arriving in mailboxes across the State over the next few days. Every Oregonian has ample time to research candidates and issues.

Rather than waiting in long lines, Oregonians can mail their ballot back or drop it off at ballot collection sites, many of which are open 24/7. Nobody has to take time off from work just to exercise his or her constitutional right.

So let me repeat. In our State, we have made this work. Every voter gets a ballot 2 or 3 weeks before an election date. Now, vote-by-mail is not going to stop every State legislature in America from devising new ways to suppress voter turnout. Certainly, some State officials in our country have worked very hard to dream up new ways to limit the franchise.

But here is why the Oregon antidote is so important. If there is a problem, our State gives voters more time to fight back. When Americans have 2 or 3 weeks to vote, they will have more time to challenge registration problems. There is more time for citizens to defend their rights.

Oregon has been voting by mail since I was first elected to the Senate in 1996, and we went to all vote-by-mail in 2000. Since then, we have had consistently higher voter turnout rates than other parts of the country. We have consistently had voter turnout rates that are among the highest in the Nation.

Oregon voting rates are especially high among young people and in midterm elections. As an added benefit--this should appeal to all Senators--studies have shown that it saves money, to boot. So you have a system that voters like, gives them more time to reflect, is more efficient, and saves money, to boot. That is a pretty appealing trifecta, it seems to me, for democracy. So my proposition today is that the rest of the country ought to follow Oregon's lead, and all Americans, from one end of the country to another, ought to have the chance to vote by mail.

To me, this just is common sense. In fact, over the years, there were questions about who benefited from vote-by-mail? In fact, Oregonians put it on the ballot, because they said that everybody benefits from it. There was support all across the political spectrum. So today, I rolled out a new proposal for a national vote-by-mail. It is built on the Oregon system. The plan is simple. Every voter in a Federal election will receive a ballot in the mail.

The Federal Government, through the Postal Service, would assist States with the cost of mailing ballots to registered voters. States can keep their current polling practices if they wish. But those States that choose a full vote-by-mail system are going to see their election costs drop and drop significantly. My hope is that this proposal ignites a new campaign across the country to make it easier, not harder, for Americans to vote.

Vote-by-mail is a first step in fighting back against those who would disenfranchise their fellow citizens to gain a political edge.

For instance, in my view it also ought to be easier for Americans to register to vote. Again, my home State leads the way. Since January, every eligible voter is automatically registered to vote, eliminating extra trips to the motor vehicles department or the county clerk's office. In my view our Governor, Gov. Kate Brown, deserves enormous credit for leading the effort to turn this particular idea, this particular reform, into law.

I know many of my colleagues and many voters are cynical about the chances of passing real reforms in this partisan day and age. My view is, voting rights are too important to abandon the field to special interests who would manipulate our government. That is why I mentioned that in Oregon there was some initial debate with respect to who might benefit, who might get a little bit of a partisan edge on the other side, and Oregon voters said: Nothing doing. We all think this is in our interests, making it easier to vote, making it easier to correct an error, and cheaper than the alternatives.

This afternoon I urge my colleagues and voters to take advantage of this opportunity to promote real reform, reform where we have hard evidence that shows it actually works, to make sure every citizen in America who wants to vote has that opportunity. Oregon once again paves the way to making sure there are real solutions to an enormous challenge.

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