Oregon's vote-by-mail system has been criticized for having the ballots out of the hands of the voter and the County elections officials -- therefore subject to manipulation or being discarded. Now, one Southern Oregon lawmaker wants to address at least part of the problem.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has identified at least three states in which legislation has passed in the last few years, tightening the laws on who is allowed to return a ballot -- some in the name of election integrity.

• In 2018, Montana voters approved a legislatively referred ballot measure to limit any person to collecting and conveying six voted ballots.
• In 2016, Arizona enacted HB 2023, which specified that no one other than a family member, household member or caregiver can return a voter’s ballot, and made it a felony for others to do so.
• Also in 2016, California enacted AB 1921, which says a “vote by mail voter who is unable to return the ballot may designate another person to return the ballot.” The new law goes on to say that compensation for the collection of ballots is prohibited. Some, such as Fox News, say the law allowed Democrats to win even bigger than expected in 2018 in California; others, including the bill’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, say the bill’s intention was to remove “yet another obstacle for individuals attempting to vote.”

Here in Oregon, State Representative E. Werner Reschke (R-Malin) is proposing to make ballot harvesting, or turning in anyone else's ballot, except for family, against the law. HB 3196, introduced by Reschke, would ban the practice and make almost everyone turn in their own ballot.

Representative Reschke said, "Oregonians deeply care about ensuring our elections are indeed the express will of the people by ending the shady practice of ballot harvesting."

In November 2018, a liberal political group called Defend Oregon, associated with Our Oregon, an political arm of the public employee unions was fined over $95,000 for harvesting ballots which they never turned in.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-02-25 07:16:46

Last Update: 2021-02-24 10:22:30