Oregon's vote by mail system - Here are details on how it works

[Amaryllis]

Many DUers have been asking questions about Oregon’s vote by mail system. Here are some links with detailed information.

Oregon does use Diebold tabulators; this is a source of concern (needless to say) among those working on voting and counting rights, and groups working on election reform are looking seriously at this area, as well as looking into other areas which may be vulnerable. Oregon is extremely fortunate to have a great SOS who is committed to fair and honest elections and who has done a great deal of work to ensure the security of OR elections.

Any system will have its vulnerabilities; obviously putting together a system with the fewest vulnerable points is the goal. The security of a system should not be dependent on having an honest SOS. The question is how well the Oregon system would work in a state with a Ken Blackwell or Katherine Harris as SOS.

Oregon requires each county to randomly select one precinct to conduct a hand count of 1% of the ballots to check against the tabulator counts for accuracy. This is not to imply that this takes care of the Diebold tabulator issue, but that at least some safeguards are built in.

Oregon Secretary of State Election Division
http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/vbm/vbm.htm

Click on the above link and you will find the following links:

A Brief History of Vote-by-Mail
Frequently Asked Questions about Vote-by-Mail
Vote-by-Mail Guide *
Oregon's Vote-by-Mail Manual (revised 12/5/03) *

and

SOS STUDY: A Statistical Examination of Ballot Types in Oregon General Elections: 1992-2000
The Secretary of State's Office recently conducted a study of ballot types in Oregon elections from 1992 to 2000. Using the data from federal and statewide candidate races in each General Election, we compared the average rate of undervotes recorded on optical scan ballots to the average rate of undervotes recorded on punch card ballots.

http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/other.info/stat.htm
This link will take you to a page with the following links:

Statutes/Administrative Rules
Statutes:
Chapter 246 - Administration of Election Laws
Chapter 247 - Qualification and Registration of Electors
Chapter 248 - Political Parties; Presidential Electors
Chapter 249 - Candidates; Recall
Chapter 250 - Initiative and Referendum
Chapter 251 - Voters' Pamphlet
Chapter 253 - Absent Electors
Chapter 254 - Conduct of Elections
Chapter 255 - Special District Elections
Chapter 258 - Election Contests; Recounts
Chapter 260 - Campaign Finance Regulations; Election Offenses
2003-2004 Oregon Election Laws *
ORS 260.174 opinion *
Administrative Rules

[rumpel]

1. Another potential problem with USPS is I remember this incident report.

043195
11/02/04, 2:08 PM PST
Absentee-ballot related problem
unknown, Los Angeles, Florida County, California
The caller is a Pacifica radio host in Los Angeles, and received a phone call from a listener in California who said that her sister was either present at, or works at, the "main post office" in Florida and saw "bags and bags" of undelivered absentee ballots either yesterday (11/1) or today (11/2). No more information.

https://voteprotect.org/index.php?display=EIRMapCounty&tab=ALL&state=California&county=Los+Angeles&cat=ALL&start_time=&start_date=&end_time=&end_date=&search=florida&go=Apply+filter

[Amaryllis]

2. I think the USPS is probably the least of the problem when you are dealing

with the likes of BLackwell and Harris. They can "lose" a lot more ballots than the USPS.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. More on Oregon Vote By Mail

I was interested in it, so added a page to my website on VBM.
http://www.ncvoter.net/OregonVBM.html

I do wonder what the un-intended consequences would be -

Florida and Ohio problems show you what Secretary of State can accomplish when they really try.

I am sure that there are downsides, like how do you know that the optical scanners aren't rigged, or the ballots marked or printed a certain way to prevent your vote from being counted as cast.

Signature verification is the primary safeguard against fraud, and it will become an even more effective safeguard with
centralized voter registration.

5 Year Study by SOS of Oregon comparing undervotes with three different voting methods:
punch-card, optical scan and hand counted paper ballots. Good data.
1992 General Election Undervote Averages:
punch cards: 7.67%
optical scan: 6.24%
paper ballot: 6.90%

1994 General Election Undervote Averages:
punch cards: 6.50%
optical scan: 5.16%
paper ballot: 6.11%

1996 General Election Undervote Averages:
punch cards: 7.03%
optical scan: 4.91%
paper ballot: 5.08%

1998 General Election Undervote Averages:
punch cards: 7.85%
optical scan: 6.21%
paper ballot: 7.23%

2000 General Election Undervote Averages:
punch cards: 7.11%
optical scan: 4.13%
no paper ballots

Oregon Secretary of State study (pdf)



Kerry wins Oregon's seven electoral votes
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Democratic presidential contender John Kerry won a convincing victory
over President Bush Tuesday in Oregon, a traditionally Democratic state that Republicans
had tried hard to win this year.

Oregon Electoral Votes: 7
President 100% of precincts reporting

Candidates Party Vote Count % Votes Cast
Kerry Dem 890,698 51
Bush Rep 823,210 48
Badnarik Lib 6,824 0
Cobb PAG 4,952 0
Peroutka CST 4,945 0

Updated: 11/11/2004 7:26:15 PM GMT
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/or.htm

[Amaryllis]

4. An SOS intent on rigging will find ways to do it in any system, so which

system is the most secure? Ideally, what would be the very most secure system?