White House vows to end vote-by-mail elections; local leaders push back

OREGON KGW 8 —Oregon and Washington state and local leaders are lining up to defend vote-by-mail elections as the White House called vote-by-mail a fraud during a Monday news conference.

 

A local leader with the National Vote at Home Institute says anyone who’s voted in Oregon must recognize the system is secure after going through all the safeguards.

 

“There’s no such thing as making copies and submitting them,” Barbara Smith Warner said, “because every ballot is tied with that barcode to one individual voter.” Smith Warner said people can track their ballots from delivery to the collection box. She said some form of vote-by-mail is used in every state.

 

“Voting is the foundational element of our democracy, it is what makes everything else work,” Smith Warner said. She said a previous executive order by Trump regarding vote-by-mail submissions after the voting deadline is hung up in court due to lawsuits including one by Oregon’s and Washington’s attorneys general.

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Defending Vote at Home from Attacks

Vote at Home is a secure and proven method of voting used for decades by more than 40 million Americans in states led by both Republicans and Democrats. Attempts to eliminate mail ballots ignore the facts, and represent an unprecedented federal overreach that would violate states’ constitutional authority to administer their own elections.

 

These efforts disregard the will of voters across red, blue, and purple states, and erode public trust in our democratic process. Across the country, from Utah, where every active registered voter is automatically delivered a ballot, to Arizona, where about 80% consistently vote from home, and Michigan, where voters overwhelmingly approved no-excuse absentee voting and millions have since embraced it, Vote at Home is not just effective, it’s essential.

 

The National Vote at Home Institute remains steadfast in defending every American’s right to vote in the way that best suits them. Despite ongoing efforts to restrict access, we will continue supporting election officials, championing policies that protect and expand mailed-out ballots, and ensuring that Vote at Home remains safe, secure, and accessible to all.