Opinion: A solution to low voter engagement in DC and Maryland: Universal vote by mail

Having participated in Oregon’s 100% vote by mail system while living there for five years, I was delighted to see that Rockville piloted a vote by mail system when reading Eric Cortellessa’s opinion piece, (‘Why Don’t Marylanders Vote?”).

As the piece points out, while Maryland has ‘convenience voting’ measures in places such as same-day registration and early voting, and does not require identification at the polls, Maryland still has much lower voter participation rates than my former state of Oregon. The same can be same of the District of Columbia, where I now live.

It’s relatively easy to vote in DC compared to some jurisdictions across the US that provide no early voting options, require voter ID, or periodically purge inactive voters from the rolls. But in DC and for most Maryland voters, you still have to make a plan to vote and get yourself there when the polls are open.

Voting rates can be low, particularly in off-year elections. I’ve voted in special elections in my home of DC’s Ward 5 in which only a several thousand votes were cast. The Post reported last year on the very low rate of voting in Ward 8 in the June 2018 primary election (only 8 percent of registered voters cast a ballot). That race featured critical issues such as Initiative 77, the referendum on the tipped minimum wage for service workers.

In addition to low turnout in off-cycle elections, DC and Maryland sometimes face large crowds at polls in general elections! Once I decided to walk away from my early polling place when lines were very long, and I didn’t have an hour to spend on voting. It was almost the end of the ‘early voting period’ in the District, so I had to make time to vote on Election Day, which for me and most others is a busy Tuesday with work and other responsibilities.

Voting at home has so many advantages: It allows you to study your ballot choices, then research issues and candidates. It allows you to vote on your time, rather than on the state’s schedule. It’s so easy.

When I lived in Oregon, we’d often have ‘voting discussion parties’ — not a phenomenon I’m aware of in this area. I signed my ballot envelope and mailed it in (or dropped it off at ballot pickup locations if I left it too close to Election Day to send by mail). Either way, it was easy. Now, Oregon has approved prepaid postage for voting by mail so it’s even easier.

Even with ‘convenience voting’ measures that D.C. and Maryland have adopted, voters still have to identify their early voting locations, get there (health and transportation can be an issue), and find the time. It is nowhere near as easy.

Vote by mail — also known as ‘vote at home’ — has spread from Oregon to Washington, Colorado, and other states in the West. It makes sense for DC (as well as Maryland and Virginia) to adopt vote by mail, too. Democracy is better when more of us participate, which is what voting at home allows.