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Thank Goodness for Oregon (and Kentucky, too, Probably)
Oregon is almost next-door. (If "next door" means a few hundred miles away.) So right now, for proximity reasons, I'm focusing my almost-done-with-the-primaries celebration on Deschutes beer and Dagoba chocolate. Next up is Bendistillery's hazelnut espresso vodka, which is delicious. It's surprising how well the Deschutes hop henge and dagoba lime go together, though. If you're looking for a little taste of Oregon to celebrate, you might want to try Full Sail, which has pretty good distribution, or Rogue Ales, which have fantastic bottle illustrations. Sorry, I'm short on the non-alcoholic/non chocolate options.
But that's not the point. As much as I love Oregonian products, the point is that this primary season is almost finally over. I am almost ready to stop compulsively clicking "refresh" every five minutes once the polls close somewhere in the east. Really. Almost ready. I swear I'll be able to get work done on Tuesday afternoons again ... once we're past June 3rd.
Oh, and the other main point is that it's a good thing that the Oregon primary is getting more attention than usual.
Here's the thing about Oregon: in addition to quality (elitist) beer, booze, and chocolate, they do their elections through the mail. And this crazy primary season, for everything else it's done, has brought that one little fact to the forefront: Oregonians vote by mail, and their turnout, in the previous two presidential primary elections was 51%/46% -- not to mention 79%/86% in the corresponding general election. That's an (unweighted) average turnout of 73% for the last three presidential elections.
I'm impressed. The treehugger/programmer in me says, "wouldn't it be more efficient to vote electronically?" But there's a simple answer to that is that: Oregon's voter fraud protection system -- based on signature verification -- seems much more reliable than any internet-based voting system I've seen proposed. And certainly more efficient.
And Kentucky? Honestly, I don't much about Kentucky. But I'm sure someone more informed from that side of the country can fill in the blanks.
Comments (7)
Nice post.
I like the Mail-in ballot system, as well, unless we want to make a National Holiday out of voting day in which EVERYTHING except for emergency services is shut down.
That ain't gonna happen, so mail in is the next best thing.
Instant run off voting would be a big improvement, as would publicly funded elections.
May 21, 2008 9:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Admit it, bee, you just liked the booze references!
May 21, 2008 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
I liked the booze reference
May 21, 2008 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Two thoughts:
A) As far as I know, there is no "handshaking" effort. In other words, you will never know if your ballot got to an office.
B) I was never one that worried about "turnout". Anyone who doesn't see fit to vote in an election is someone who isn't educated enough to vote in a particular election and I would prefer if they don't vote. Of course, this comment doesn't refer to invalids, etc. where there are already other measures in place. Nor does it involve people who give up after standing in line for over an hour to vote. But this isn't the reason for general low turnout.
Even during the Civil War, you only had about 80% turnout!
May 21, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
A) There is, actually -- see "how do I know if my ballot is received" on the Oregon Vote by Mail FAQ page. Sounds like it's a two-step process, so when your ballot is initially received, that information is recorded -- and then it gets separated (in a another envelope, to keep things confidential) and counted on "election" day.
B) Although I know that doubling turnout would effectively be cutting the weight of my own vote in half, I still think higher voter turnout is better. But I have absolutely no real evidence to back that up -- do people become more involved in local governments when they vote in elections, for example? Are people who vote happier, because they believe their small vote counts? I don't know. But now I'm going to keep my eyes open for studies along those lines.
May 21, 2008 9:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
PS I never really had a good Oregon wine. Some great Oregon tubers, however, so I suspect the mash is pretty good.
May 21, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't know about the other Oregon micro-distilleries, but the Bendistillery stuff is uniformly good.
May 21, 2008 10:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
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