Portland State Magazine Fall 2019

14 OREGON’S BETTER WAY OF RUNNING ELECTIONS IN LESS than 150 days, New Hampshire voters will traipse to their polling places to cast ballots in the nation’s “always first” presidential primary election. Between that contest on February 11, 2020, and the end of March, 19 other states will also hold primary elections, including such key states as California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Arizona, Florida and Illinois. But just how many Americans will participate in this determinative phase of the 2020 elections? In 2016, fewer than 60 million Americans cast ballots (or attended party caucuses)—and in a year when both major parties had spirited contests. At that time, there were more than 220 million eligible voters. This means almost 75% of our citizens sat it out—while the two major parties nominated the two most widely disliked presidential candidates in modern American history. Only in New Hampshire, where 52% of eligible citizens voted, did more voters turn out than not. Oregon’s overall turnout fell just shy of New Hampshire’s due largely to our “closed primary,” which unlike New Hampshire’s makes it very difficult for our vast number of “non-affiliated” voters to cast ballots. Among Oregon’s registered Republicans and Democrats, our combined turnout was a remarkable 65%. SO WHAT makes Oregon such a stand-out state for turnout? How might other states learn from Oregon in terms of boosting turnout in 2020 and beyond? And how might even Oregon do better? These are important questions as we approach a consequential presidential primary election. While there are good reasons to predict higher turnout in 2020—especially on the Democratic side—there are dangers too. Bad weather— think February blizzards in New Hampshire and icy roads in key Midwest states—could play a surprisingly big factor. Photo ID laws and other legal obstacles might also play a role in depressing turnout in key contests. But perhaps the biggest obstacle of all is one that we Oregonians jettisoned 20 years ago: the traditional polling place itself. In 1998, Oregon voters by a 2:1 margin voted to consign the traditional polling place to the ash heap of history. Every active registered voter now receives a ballot in the mail, hand- delivered by the U.S. Post Office, several weeks before each election. Voters can then decide how—and even whether—to return them. The state’s vote-by-mail system should be a national model as we approach the presidential primaries. WRITTEN BY PHIL KEISLING Traffic, bad weather, sick children, work schedules—none of these stand between Oregon voters and their ability to exercise the most fundamental of their constitutional rights.