Do Oregon voters fail to return their ballots because of the price of – or inconvenience of obtaining – a postage stamp? Two Democratic legislators think in a significant number of cases, the answer is ‘yes.’ They’re backing a bill to provide postage on mail-in ballots, at a cost to taxpayers of about $650,000 per year. “We know there are ballots out there that are not getting in,” Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, told the Senate Rules Committee on Monday. “We would like to remove the impediment that is there for some people to mailing their ballot that has to do with the postage stamp.”
“The purpose of this legislation is to increase participation in our representative democracy,” said Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin. “If this legislation were to lead to a 5 or even 10 percent increase in voter turnout then I believe this expenditure of public dollars will be very well spent.”
Oregon is one of three states that conduct elections entirely by mail, eliminating polling centers.
Full Article: Oregon looking at making ballots free to mail.