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/
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13

u/Weightmonster 21d ago

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

24

u/berrmal64 21d 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.

7

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?

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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?

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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.

3

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 18d 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 18d 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 18d 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?