As a longtime Massachusetts resident living in Oregon since 2018, I heartily endorse your June 17 editorial, “Vote-by-mail system is the way to go.” I love Oregon’s vote-by-mail system, which has been used successfully for 22 years.
Each registered voter is mailed a ballot weeks in advance of an election. Our primary ballot in March was crazy complicated, with six partisan races, 27 non-partisan ones, including 20 various judicial positions (some contested), county commissioner, county district attorney, city mayor (nine candidates), a total of 25 candidates for five seats on the city commission, plus two complex ballot questions.
It took me more than a week of research before marking my two-page ballot, but I had plenty of time before I had to mail it back. (Oh, yes, and there was a third page for Democrat precinct committee person, with not enough candidates to fill all the seats, rather like most ballots used to be for Amherst Town Meeting representatives).
For 12 years I was a warden in one of Amherst’s voting precincts. Voters who mostly came in person were sometimes confused, especially if the ballot was more than one page. Some would ask us poll workers for advice on making their choices, which state law did not allow us to do. Bad weather depressed turnout. The town clerk frequently had difficulty recruiting enough poll workers. While it was nice to see people in person, we couldn’t let chatting interfere with others voting.
Switching over to such a system completely can’t happen quickly. It will take a massive effort on the state level as well as many changes locally. But once it’s done, Massachusetts voters will benefit greatly.
Kay J. Moran
Portland, Oregon