Ten things you may not know about voting in Oregon

Yesterday, I participated in a discussion with John Kauffman, Director of the Multnomah County Elections Division. Oregon’s Vote-by-mail system is attracting attention from all over the country, as other states struggle to provide verifiable, secure mechanisms that ensure votes will be counted accurately. Although the 2002 Help America Vote Act allocated federal money to help states and county elections departments, it has yet to be disbursed to many government agencies.

Some useful information, if you’re thinking of voting in May to help decide whether to keep the commission form of government that has served Portland well for almost a century:

1. Voter registration deadline for the May 15, 2007 election is April 24. Ballots will be mailed around April 27, must be received at an official location by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15.

2. If you haven’t voted in two federal election cycles, your registration is considered inactive and you need to re-register, even if you haven’t moved or changed your name.

3. If you’re registered to vote anywhere in Oregon, you can update your registration to a new address right up until the polls close on Election Day.

4. If you’ve moved since registering, you’re eligible to vote where you live now, not where you were living when you registered.

5. If you die between mailing in your ballot and the close of polling on Election Day, your vote counts.

6. New machines purchased by Multnomah County can read black, blue, and red ink, as well as the traditional #2 pencils.

7. If the Elections Office believes your signature has changed too much from the one on file, they will send you a letter seeking verification (and hold your ballot as a provisional vote subject to your response). If you forgot to sign, they will either send your sealed envelope back if there’s time, or else try to contact you if they have your phone number. So if you don’t hear from them, your signature on the back of the envelope passed muster.

8. You can place your ballot in the box at an official drop-off site anywhere in Oregon up to 8 p.m. on Election Day – you don’t have to deliver it to your own County Elections headquarters.

9. If you vote early, you won’t get as many phone calls from campaigns asking for your vote. You also won’t receive as much printed information in the mail. Many campaigns track who has already voted, to conserve resources to target those who haven’t.

10. People with disabilities may request to have their ballot e-mailed to them in html format, allowing them to vote independently using interactive computer technology, print out the completed ballot, sign and return it.

Lots of good news in there, huh? I especially like the one about your vote counting even if you die before Election Day. How cool that would be, to have one of your last acts on earth be to cast the deciding vote in a close election.