Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - March 23, 2007)

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By Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. Kerry):

S. 979. A bill to establish a Vote by Mail grant program; to the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, on Election Day 2006 in Tillamook County, OR, 13 inches of rain fell. Roads were closed. Parts of the county became unreachable. Governor Kulongoski declared a state of emergency. And yet--70 percent of the voters in the county still cast their ballots.

Why? Because Oregonians in Tillamook County and all over the State cast their votes by mail.

Even without weather like this, folks in other States around the country had trouble casting their votes.

In Denver, CO, hundreds of voters were turned away when the database of registered voters crashed.

Nearly a quarter of precincts in Indianapolis, IN, resorted to paper ballots when poll workers couldn't figure out how to connect optical scan voting machines with the new touch-screen models.

In Johnson County, KS, poll workers used hand lotion to prevent the county's touch-screen voting machines from spitting out cards.

In Missouri, poll workers were demanding photo identification despite a court ruling barring the practice.

In Shaker Heights, OH, voters were turned from the polls when electronic voting machines failed to work.

Voters in Washington State received phone calls instructing them to vote at the wrong precinct.

A polling location in New Mexico received 150 ballots instead of 1,500.

The list goes on and on.

The point is, vote by mail has worked in Oregon and not just in this election, but in every election it has been used.

It's a pretty simple system. Voters get their ballots in the mail. Wherever and whenever they would like, right up to Election Day, voters complete their ballots and return them.

Vote by mail makes polling place problems a thing of the past--no more polls opening late and no more long lines.

There's no more confusion about whether you are on the voter rolls. Either you get the ballot in the mail, or you don't and if you don't, you have ample time to contact your election officials to sort it out.

Vote by mail dramatically reduces the chance of voter fraud. Trained election officials match the signature on each ballot against the signature on each voter's registration card and no ballot is processed or counted until officials are satisfied that the two signatures match.

Vote by mail ensures a paper trail--each voter marks up their ballot and sends it in. That ballot is counted and then becomes the paper record used in the event of a recount.

There's less risk of voter intimidation and that's why a 2003 study of Oregon voters showed that those groups that would likely be most vulnerable to coercion, including the elderly, actually prefer vote by mail.

Vote by mail leads to more educated voters. Because folks get their ballots weeks before the election, they have the time they need to get educated about the candidates and the issues, and deliberate in a way not possible at a polling place.

And vote by mail generates costs savings that can be spent on other priorities like education, law enforcement and roads. Because there is no longer any need to transport equipment to polling stations and to hire and train poll workers, Oregon has reduced its election-related costs by 30 percent since implementing vote by mail.

I think the Oregon experience can be copied elsewhere and that's why I am introducing my Vote by Mail Act of 2007 today, which creates a three year, $18 million grant program to help states adopt vote by mail election systems like the one that Oregon voters have been successfully using for some time now.

To participate in the grant program, States must demonstrate that the vote by mail system they intend to implement includes the same elements that have made Oregon's system so successful, including a system for recording electronically each voter's registration and signature and a process for ensuring that the signature on each VBM ballot is verified against that voter's electronically recorded signature. States that decide to participate in the program have the option of adopting vote by mail State-wide, within a group of selected counties, or even in a single county. States transitioning to vote by mail State-wide will receive $2 million. States transitioning to VBM less than State-wide will receive $1 million.

I think that vote by mail will improve the elections in every State that adopts it. But to be sure, my bill instructs the Government Accountability Office to evaluate the benefits of vote by mail and to produce a study comparing traditional voting methods and vote by mail.

I urge my colleagues to lend their support to the Vote by Mail Act of 2007. I believe it can help ensure hassle-free elections and help rebuild confidence in our election system.

Because right now, some folks feel like they are so powerless to do anything to fix things that they throw their hands in the air and walk away. And society suffers. For democracies to work there needs to be public engagement. But that requires a sense of investedness--unless I think of the government as my government, which means it's considering my interests and, more importantly, trying to solve them, it's pretty hard to stay invested.

The sense of resignation, of frustration, even dislocation, expressed by some folks troubles me. And I consider it my job to foster a greater sense of public investment. This means making sure that the government works for everyone and that there are tangible results that you can show people so that they understand that it's their government and that it works for them.

I think election reform like my vote by mail bill accomplishes this goal at the most basic level. Without fair, trouble-free elections, you've got serious problems. You don't even get past go. The public can't have confidence in its government if it doesn't have confidence in the system that elected that government. As we saw in 2000 in Florida, it is extremely difficult to untangle problems after Election Day so you really have to get it right the first time. Vote by mail helps ensures this.

I am pleased to have my esteemed colleague from Massachusetts, Senator Kerry as an original co-sponsor. I am also pleased that Congresswoman SUSAN DAVID of California is introducing the House companion bill. I am also happy to announce that the American Association of People with Disabilities, the American Postal Workers Union, Common Cause, and the National Association of Postal Supervisors are publicly supporting this bill.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:

S. 979

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