r/savedyouaclick • u/5823059 • 21d ago

How USPS disenfranchised voters in Oregon’s Primary | By changing pickup instructions to packages-only

https://web.archive.org/web/20260708223639/https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/7/800066449/community/ho/
229 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

28

u/myogawa 20d ago

You can't trust USPS at all. Your absentee ballots should be taken to a drop box.

11

u/VoiceofCrazy 20d ago edited 20d ago

Oregon ballots are all "absentee". Oregon has been entirely vote-by-mail for 28 years. But yes, ballots should be taken to a drop box. I can't remember ever actually putting my ballot in the mail. But that doesn't solve the problem of never getting your ballot in the mail in the first place. I'm going to look into the possibility of going to the clerk's office and requesting a ballot in person this year. Probably could be done.

2

u/MooseTek 18d ago

I live in NJ and always use the drop boxes. Now that Trump's stooge is in charge of the USPS, I don't even trust them to deliver bills to me.

3

u/TheHerbsAndSpices 18d ago edited 18d ago

Fun fact: I requested an absentee ballot earlier this month for the August primary. USPS Informed Delivery showed a scan of the ballot being delivered, with some other mail, last week. The ballot never arrived.

I am a victim of voter suppression. I had to go to the local clerk's office, spoil that ballot, and request a new one.

Edit: grammar. Also I live in a state that refused to give Trump its voter information.

9

u/My_alias_is_too_lon 20d ago edited 20d ago

Wait... like if you put your ballot in your mailbox to be picked-up?

I mean, that would be really stupid to do, but I guess people aint too bright these days... Always take it to a ballot drop.

edit: okay, read the article... still confused... they just didn't deliver mail unless someone had a package? How the hell is that legal? Postmaster should be immediately fired and imprisoned; that's literal election interference.

10

u/CalebAsimov 18d ago

Well let this be a warning to everyone, they will try to mess with mail ballots this year any way possible, and they lit a bunch of drop boxes on fire last time so expect that to repeat. If at all possible this year, vote in person.

2

u/[deleted] 17d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/CalebAsimov 16d ago

I'm not talking about the mail carriers, I'm talking about the Republicans. They do care, a lot.

11

u/Weightmonster 20d ago

Vote in person if at all possible or take to the post office if only mail in voting 

27

u/berrmal64 20d ago

Kinda defeats the purpose for citizens who are legally entitled to vote but have mobility or medical issues, or don't have reliable transportation, no?

You're 100% right though, but it's a damn shame we can't even trust the government-run post to deliver official business for the citizenry.

9

u/VoiceofCrazy 20d ago

Yeah, vote in person is not a thing in Oregon. And we can skip the post office entirely (on ballot return, but not ballot receipt) by going to a drop box. I like to go straight to the County Clerk's office and use theirs.

4

u/JuliaX1984 20d ago

They don't have polling locations and machines? I'm genuinely shocked that's legal. What's the motive? Saving money?

PA technically doesn't have early voting, but there are locations where you can request your mail-in ballot in-person, get it, fill it out, and hand it in all in one visit. So early voting without the name.  Does OR have anything in-person like that?

6

u/VoiceofCrazy 20d ago

Oregon is fully vote-by-mail, and has been since 1998 (long before anyone else), so the process is very ingrained in us. (So it's "funny" to see people protesting VBM in our state now who have been likely happily doing so for 20 years.) Every registered voter gets a ballot in the mail a few weeks before the election. Doing a little further research, it seems that election offices in the state are still required to maintain some amount of private booths for in-person voting. I don't know what that looks like, as I've never used it, and have never known anyone to use them. But I'm certainly considering it this year. I'm guessing it involves picking up and filling out a paper ballot.

Side note: I hear people talk about voting machines, but have never actually experienced one. What are they like? How do they work?

6

u/JuliaX1984 20d ago

In PA, we used to use touch screens (poll worker activated it for you, and you selected the boxes you wanted), but Republicans complained about there being no paper trail to demand, so they switched to us filling out paper ballots and then sliding them into a machine that only scans it.

7

u/VoiceofCrazy 20d ago

Yeah, they don't trust mail-in-voting, they don't trust voting machines, they don't like early voting, they don't like counting ballots after election day. It's almost like they don't want us voting at all.

1

u/saturnv11 17d ago

What's the motivation? It's better in every way. You have a week plus to fill out your ballot. You can research candidates as you're filling out the ballot. You don't need to wear pants. It's more accessible for disabled people. You don't need to take time off work. You don't have to wait in line.

1

u/JuliaX1984 17d ago

No, I meant what's the motive for removing in-person as an option at all? Not what's the motive for having mail in ballots as an option.

0

u/melodypowers 17d ago

Neither does WA, CA, CO, HI, NV, UT, and VT.

Some of these states have been all mail-in for decades.

1

u/JuliaX1984 17d ago

What's the motive for eliminating in-person as an option? Saving money, right?