Ron Wyden: “on Election Day 2006 in Tillamook County, OR, 13 inches of rain fell. Roads were closed. Parts of the county became…”

“on Election Day 2006 in Tillamook County, OR, 13 inches of rain fell. Roads were closed. Parts of the county became unreachable. Governor Kulongoski declared a state of emergency. And yet--70 percent of the voters in the county still cast their ballots. Why? Because Oregonians in Tillamook County and all over the State cast their votes by mail. Even without weather like this, folks in other States around the country had trouble casting their votes. In Denver, CO, hundreds of voters were turned away when the database of registered voters crashed. Nearly a quarter of precincts in Indianapolis, IN, resorted to paper ballots when poll workers couldn't figure out how to connect optical scan voting machines with the new touch-screen models. In Johnson County, KS, poll workers used hand lotion to prevent the county's touch-screen voting machines from spitting out cards. In Missouri, poll workers were demanding photo identification despite a court ruling barring the practice. In Shaker Heights, OH, voters were turned from the polls when electronic voting machines failed to work. Voters in Washington State received phone calls instructing them to vote at the wrong precinct. A polling location in New Mexico received 150 ballots instead of 1,500. The list goes on and on. The point is, vote by mail has worked in Oregon and not just in this election, but in every election it has been used. It's a pretty simple system. Voters get their ballots in the mail.…”