Vote by Mail during COVID-19: Insights from Oregon
As we learn all the ways the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting our lives, one looming concern is our elections. Sixteen states have already postponed in-person primaries to protect voters from gatherings that could expose them and poll workers to the spread of the virus. This has in turn resulted in a growing call for legislative action to address the health threat created by in-person balloting.
As we look ahead to the upcoming primaries and the general election this fall, there are a series of possible election tools that might mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. One of these tools is vote by mail (VBM), which increasingly is simply vote at home with most voters in some states personally returning ballots to drop boxes.
What should election administrators worry about if this shift proceeds? What are the possible challenges or barriers to running a new vote by mail election? And what can be learned from states that have already shifted to this system?
To answer these questions, we turn to one of the country’s most experienced administrators running a full by-mail election system, Multnomah County, Oregon’s Director of Elections, Tim Scott.
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We appear about halfway down in this posting:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-coronavirus-could-change-how-we-vote-in-2020-and-beyond/
Cool to see the publicity for tonight’s event. But that picture, oh my gosh, that’s really old …
The first paper, “The Problems of Minimal Support: Considerations for an Establishment Survey of Local Election Officials,” is co-authored by Jay Lee and Paul Gronke.
Here is the abstract (click https:/evic.reed.edu/spsa_sampling_paper/ to view the full paper).
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Selecting the Stewards of Democracy
In our last blog post we explored turnover among local election officials in the US. In this installment we turn to examine how the Stewards of Democracy are selected for their positions and how LEOs themselves think about selection methods. We hope our results can inform ongoing discussions about how we select the local and state officials who administer American elections.
Local election officials that administer elections across the United States may have run for office, been appointed, or been hired into their positions. Elections may have been partisan or non-partisan contests. As with so many features in American election administration, selection methods vary both across and within states.
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America’s “Stewards of Democracy”: Experienced In Their Jobs, But Turnover Is Greater In Smaller Jurisdictions
Some 8,000 local election officials guide elections across the United States. These local officials work to assure the safety, security, and legitimacy of our elections. These Stewards of Democracy are a critical group in our nation – yet they do not receive much attention.
In 2018, the Early Voting Information Center (EVIC) at Reed College, in partnership with the Democracy Fund, initiated an annual survey of local elections officials to learn more, and to share the perspectives of these public servants. This is the first in a series of posts sharing our 2019 results, reflecting on what we have learned in the first two years of our polling.
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DF/RC 2018 Survey of Local Election Officials
The Early Voting Information Center, in collaboration with Democracy Fund, is proud to announce the release of the Stewards of Democracy, a report based on our 2018 Survey of Local Election Officials. Conducted in the summer of 2018, this survey obtained responses from over 1,000 officials across the country, serving jurisdictions ranging in size from under 250 voters to over 1 million voters.
A lot more information is contained in the full report, but a brief list of the takeaways:
- LEOs were prepared for the 2018 midterm election, although most expressed low confidence in obtaining sufficient numbers of bilingual poll workers.
Local election officials in Wisconsin have been put in an untenable situation. LEOs are being asked to administer an election in the midst of a global pandemic and while a statewide “stay at home” order has been issued by Governor Tony Evers.
For a period of time, it seemed like Wisconsin politicians were able to work together and navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. That is until an election occurred. While politicians continue to fight with one another from their home offices, 1,849 local election officials, thousands of volunteer poll workers, and millions of citizens are being forced to decide between their health and their right to vote.
Who are these dedicated civil servants who have been asked to shoulder the challenge of holding the first COVID-19 pandemic election? In partnership with the Democracy Fund, the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College has been surveying local election officials nationwide about their jobs, their career aspirations, and their opinions about election integrity and reform. We’d like to share a few of these findings to put a human face on Wisconsin’s “stewards of democracy.”
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