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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 2007)
Delivering Democracy Postal service unions pitch vote-by-mail to top elections officers year, over 40 percent of ballots were mail-in. Twenty-four other states allow no-excuse “absentee” ballots, but vot- ers have to request them before each election. Twenty-two other states and the District of Columbia require an ex- cuse before voters can use a mail bal- lot — like being out of the state on military service, out of town during the election, or too ill or disabled to go to a polling place. Vote-by-mail produces a marginal increase in mail handled by the Postal Service, but its appeal to postal unions isn’t about economics, said Cliff Duffy, executive vice president of the American Postal Workers Union. “It’s a pride issue,” Duffy said. “It’s a source of pride for us to imagine we could become part of the voting process in this country.” Oregon’s experiment in vote-by- mail was a years-long priority for Port- land-based National Association Letter Carriers Branch 82, which cam- paigned for the 1998 referendum that put it in place. Branch 82 then helped pass a pro-vote-by-mail resolution at the Oregon AFL-CIO convention that went on to win approval at the 2005 convention of the national AFL-CIO. “It’s a classic fight for access to polls,” says Branch 82 President LC For several years, the U.S. Postal Service and its unions have been advo- cating that “vote-by-mail” replace tra- ditional Election Day polling stations. In July, they took their message to a Portland meeting of state elections of- ficials from around the country, and were backed up by Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. Oregon reclaimed its mantle as a electoral pioneer in 1998 when it be- came the first state in the nation to conduct all elections entirely by mail. In state after state where voters are given the choice to vote by mail, vot- ers are flocking to it, Bradbury told at- tendees at the summer conference of the National Association of Secretaries of State. In Oregon, Bradbury said, “voting fits into our lives; we don’t have to fit our lives around voting.” Oregon is still the only state to con- duct elections entirely by mail, but Washington is moving in that direc- tion. Last year 31 out of Washington’s 36 counties held elections by mail, and next year, all counties but one are ex- pected to do so. Meanwhile, California and Colorado have what’s called “per- manent no-excuse absentee ballots,” where any voter can opt to get all fu- ture ballots in the mail rather than vot- ing at poll stations. In California last From left to right: Vote By Mail Project Director Adam Smith; National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Executive Vice President Fred Rolando; Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury; and NALC Branch 82 President L.C. Hansen. The four pitched Oregon’s vote by mail system at the July 15-18 summer conference of the National Association of Secretaries of State at the Portland Hilton. Hansen. “We’re working people and shift workers. Often our schedules don’t permit easy access to the polls.” Vote-by-mail plays to union strengths, explains Adam Smith, a for- mer Oregon Nurses Association labor representative who is now director of the non-partisan Vote By Mail Project. I NDEPENDENT R ETIREMENT L IVING Kirkland Union Manors Westmoreland's Union Manor 3530 SE 84th Ave. Portland 97266 6404 SE 23rd Ave. Portland 97202 503•777•8101 503•233•5671 First, vote-by-mail produces much more accurate voter databases. Mail-in ballots aren’t forwarded, so when bal- lots are returned to sender (county elections offices), voters’ names are re- moved from the active list, and letters are sent out to their new addresses re- minding them to re-register. Then, bal- lots are in voters’ hands for two and a half weeks, giving groups like unions an extended opportunity to reach mem- bers by mail, phone and personal con- tact. Union get-out-the-vote campaigns can get daily updates from elections of- fices about who has voted, allowing them to focus phone calls, mailings and door-to-door visits on those who haven’t yet. And volunteer-rich conservative groups can take equal advantage of vote-by-mail mechanics, Smith said. Basically, it breathes new life into door-to-door people politics, in an era dominated by television ad politics. “Vote-by-mail leverages the value of person-to-person contact,” Smith said. In Oregon, vote-by-mail has helped organized labor produce a union turnout and electoral result that are the envy of unions elsewhere in the nation, said Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain. “It gives strength to any grass-roots organization,” Chamberlain said, “any- thing that’s driven by volunteers and membership.” “And we don’t have to worry about voter machines, or long lines that dis- courage people from voting.” K ramers/metro mailing service 3201 N.W. 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THEUNIONMANORS . ORG TDD 503•771•0912 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS 7LUHG RI :RUNLQJ LQ 3$,1" 0RVW,QVXUDQFH 3ODQV$FFHSWHG 3 P 528'/< ROUDLY 6 S (59,1* ERVING ORTLAND W 3 P 257/$1' : ORKERS 25.(56 F OR O VER 32 Y EARS ) 25 2 9(5 < ($56 %HHVRQ &KLURSUDFWLF KHOSVEULQJWKH UHOLHI\RXQHHG 7UHDWPHQWIRUSDLQGXHWR RYHUXVHDQGUHSHWLWLYHPRWLRQ &KLURSUDFWLFDGMXVWPHQWV 7UHDWPHQWIRUDFFLGHQWDQG VSRUWVUHODWHGLQMXULHV 5HKDELOLWDWLRQH[HUFLVHV 7KHUDSHXWLFPDVVDJH ,QWHUQDOGLDJQRVLVDQGWUHDWPHQW /DEWHVWVDQG[UD\V 'U'DQ%HHVRQ&KLURSUDFWRU 6(7KLUWHHQWK$YHLQ6HOOZRRG &$// AUGUST 3, 2007
