A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
America should
imitate Oregon
on voting by mail
N
orma Paulus would
be proud. And she
would be amazed.
As secretary of state from
1977 until 1985, Paulus was
the prime mover of Oregon’s
voting by mail. Other states
have been slow to follow Ore-
gon’s lead. But — in the way
that sudden events provoke
unexpected change — the
coronavirus makes voting by
mail a timely solution.
Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden and U.S. Sen. Amy
Klobuchar of Minnesota have
authored legislation to make
the mail ballot more prevalent.
For Wyden, this has been a
long slog. He first introduced
this legislation in 2002.
“I’ve never had the inter-
est that we have now,” he said
during a Monday interview.
“During the most recent slate
of presidential primary elec-
tions, three states opted to
postpone voting because of
the coronavirus.”
In this climate, Wyden
argues that the pandemic
offers a stark choice. “Either
people are not going to be able
to vote or they vote by mail. If
those are the two choices for
America this fall, that is not a
close call.”
Like the bottle bill, pub-
lic beaches and statewide land
use planning, voting by mail
is one of Oregon’s emblem-
atic, pioneering achieve-
ments. Initially, it was a
Republican proposal, opposed
by labor unions that influ-
enced the Democratic party.
Then it became a Democratic
party cause, led by Secretary
of State Phil Keisling, who
served in the 1990s.
Under Paulus, counties
were allowed to use the mail
ballot for nonprimary or non-
general elections. When coun-
ties took advantage of the
new mode of voting, turnout
increased by factors of three
and five, Keisling said.
In 1995, the Oregon Legis-
lature enacted Keisling’s bill
to allow voting by mail, but
Gov. John Kitzhaber vetoed it.
Months later, a surprise
allowed Keisling to make his-
tory. When Bob Packwood
resigned from the U.S. Senate
in 1995, county clerks across
Oregon urged Keisling to con-
duct the sudden, special Sen-
ate election by mail ballot. He
could do that, because existing
statute prohibited mail ballots
only in the primary and gen-
eral elections.
The special primary in
1995 and the general election
in early 1996 became the first
federal elections in America to
be conducted by mail. Turnout
was high — 58% in the spe-
cial primary and 66% in the
general. Wyden became Ore-
gon’s new U.S. senator.
In 1998, Oregon voters by
a margin of 2-to-1 approved
a ballot measure mandating
voting by mail in all Oregon
elections.
Keisling has contin-
ued his advocacy within the
National Vote At Home Insti-
tute, of which he is founder
and a board member. His
2016 article in the Washing-
ton Monthly (“Vote From
Home, Save Your Country”)
is an extensive history of the
national discussion of mail
balloting.
In the most recent develop-
ment, Wyden’s biggest oppo-
nent is the voting machine
lobby. Of digital voting, the
Oregon Democrat says: “A
voting machine with remote
access software is the equiv-
alent of putting an American
ballot box in the Kremlin.” He
disparages the voting machine
lobby, saying: “They lied to
me, to the New York Times.
They stonewalled Congress.”
Wyden measures his prog-
ress by how many Republican
senators who now say they are
thinking about his proposal.
The emergency package in
Congress in response to the
coronavirus includes $400
million to help states with
elections, but Wyden and Klo-
buchar believe more help is
needed.
“In times of crisis, the
American people cannot be
forced to choose between their
health and exercising their
right to vote,” the senators
said in a statement. “While
this funding is a step in the
right direction, we must enact
election reforms across the
country as well as secure more
resources to guarantee safe
and secure elections. We will
continue to fight to pass the
Natural Disaster and Emer-
gency Ballot Act of 2020 to
ensure every eligible Amer-
ican can safely and lawfully
cast their ballot.”
An adverse moment in his-
tory reinforces the case that
voting by mail makes abun-
dant sense.
It’s time for America to
imitate Oregon.
GUEST COMMENT
Health department reports 21 COVID-19
tests administered in Grant County
Grant County Health Department
G
reetings, residents of Grant
County.
Beginning today and
occurring daily for the immedi-
ate future, the Grant County Health
Department will provide informa-
tion to county residents on the total
number of COVID-19 tests adminis-
tered, total number of negative tests,
total positive tests and total tests
pending.
Up until three weeks ago, the
Oregon State Public Health Lab-
oratory was the only lab process-
ing COVID-19 tests in Oregon. The
data that was reported by the Ore-
gon Health Authority came from the
OSPHL. At that time, the data was
an accurate reflection of the testing
that was occurring in all counties in
Oregon.
In the last several weeks private
labs have begun testing for COVID-
19. That is good news. All labs
immediately report the results of the
tests to the health care provider that
ordered the test, and they report pos-
itives to the county health depart-
ment. However, there is a significant
delay in private labs reporting nega-
tive results to OHA. Given this, the
data that is currently appearing on
the OHA website is not an accurate
reflection of testing that is occurring
in Grant County.
At the time of writing this arti-
cle, the OHA website shows that
five tests have been administered
in Grant County, with one positive
result and four negative results.
To address the discrepancy, the
health department will report the
most up to date testing completed
in Grant County. This information
from Blue Mountain Hospital Dis-
trict, Grant County Public Health
Department and primary care will be
reported daily to the media. Follow-
ing is the information for March 30,
2020. Note: This information may
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
Publisher............ ......................................Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com
Editor & General Manager ...............Sean Hart, editor@bmeagle.com
Reporter ...................................................Rudy Diaz, rudy@bmeagle.com
Reporter ...................................................... Steven Mitchell, steven@bmeagle.com
Sports ........................................................sports@bmeagle.com
Marketing Rep .......................................Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com
Office Assistant .....................................Alixandra Hand, office@bmeagle.com
MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
encouraged to call their primary care
provider, the hospital or 911. This
will allow the hospital to prepare for
the arrival of a potential COVID-19
case. The provider will evaluate the
person and then will decide if test-
ing should be completed.
Grant County health officials
continue to urge Grant County to
take steps to protect those who are
most vulnerable to complications
from COVID-19.
Those considered “high risk”
include adults 60 and older, or any-
one with a serious health condition,
including lung or heart problems,
kidney disease or diabetes, or any-
one who has a suppressed immune
system.
People vulnerable to complica-
tions should follow OHA and Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Pre-
vention recommendations to stay
home as much as possible and avoid
gatherings.
Every resident should take these
basic steps to protect those most at
risk:
• Wash your hands often with
soap and water for at least 20
seconds.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose,
or mouth with unwashed hands.
• Cover your mouth and nose
when you cough or sneeze.
• Stay home if you feel ill.
The COVID-19 virus spreads
like the flu, when someone who
is sick coughs or sneezes close to
another person (close means approx-
imate six feet).
After someone contracts
COVID-19, illness usually devel-
ops within 14 days. Symptoms mir-
ror those of the flu, including fever,
cough, runny nose, headache, sore
throat and general feelings of illness.
We would urge those who pres-
ent with these symptoms to call 211,
their primary care provider or the
Grant County Health Department at
541-575-0429.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Ben Combs
Neighborhood
Appreciation for
watch reminiscent community spirit
deserved league
of special deputies
recognition
To the Editor:
To the Editor:
Regarding Ukiah/Long Creek
basketball: Why wasn’t Ben
Combs given some recogni-
tion in the High Desert League
for being a really good player?
I watched most of the games.
Ben gave 100% and accom-
plished a lot (rebounds, points,
steals). He was a team player.
He played the whole game,
every game, until he broke his
right hand and still played left
handed.
We had people from the games
telling us they loved watching
Ben play and people from the
opposing team complementing
Ben on being such a good player.
Sandy Thompson
Dale
Blue Mountain
not include negative or pending test
results completed out of county on
Grant County residents.
Total COVID-19 tests adminis-
tered in Grant County: 21
Total Positive: 1
Total Negative: 16
Total Pending: 4
As previously indicated, it is
important to note that this infor-
mation will not match information
provided on OHA’s website. How-
ever, we feel it is important to pro-
vide Grant County residents with the
most accurate information possible.
Health care providers are doing
their best to be very strategic with
testing for multiple reasons.
There is a short supply of test
kits available at this time.
We are attempting to minimize
traffic within the hospital, especially
for those who only have mild or no
symptoms to help prevent poten-
tial additional exposures within the
hospital.
There is a critical shortage of
Personal Protective Equipment,
and as the outbreak develops, this
will continue to decrease the sup-
plies on hand. Each test adminis-
tered requires the use of full PPE,
and if testing is completed on every-
one with mild symptoms, we are
further depleting our supply of PPE
with each test, when in fact these
people are advised to stay home
and self-isolate until 72 hours after
symptoms have resolved.
Ideally, health care providers
would love to have enough test-
ing capability and PPE supplies to
test everyone that would like to be
tested. Unfortunately this is not an
option at this point.
We are encouraging people to
stay home and to self-isolate if they
are sick until 72 hours after symp-
toms have resolved. If symptoms
such as difficulty breathing, confu-
sion or chest palpitation occur and
medical care is needed, people are
Online: MyEagleNews.com
To the Editor:
I read with some amusement in
the March 26 edition of the paper
when Deputy Dobler espoused the
“broken window” theory of polic-
ing. This from the same agency
who told me two years ago that they
were not going to investigate a wit-
nessed hit and run on my wife’s
vehicle because we had auto insur-
ance to cover the damage! It just
so happens that the suspect of the
witnessed event was one of Palm-
er’s special deputies. Maybe Dep-
uty Dobler should talk with his boss
before releasing more “special dep-
uties” on the public. It seems a little
suspect that Sheriff Palmer begins
naming “special deputies” before
another upcoming election.
Steve Smartt
John Day
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POSTMASTER
send address changes to:
Blue Mountain Eagle
195 N. Canyon Blvd.
John Day, OR 97845-1187
USPS 226-340
Phone: 541-575-0710
Benny Santos is the franchise
owner of the John Day Dairy
Queen.
Three weeks ago on Wednes-
day, March 11, the John Day
Dairy Queen offered meals at half
off to those who came inside to
eat.
What most people don’t know
is that this half-off day was not a
DQ corporate event.
The half of your meal that
you didn’t pay for came out of
Mr. Santos’ pocket.
He told us that this was
his way of giving back to this
community.
We appreciate his community
spirit.
Tom and Sandra Sutton
John Day
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Blue Mountain Eagle
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