Let Ohioans decide whether voting by mail should be SOP

As state and county governments struggle to make financial ends meet, and as county boards of elections struggle to find qualified, competent people to work the polls Election Day, the need to explore other methods of voting is evident.

That’s what Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner wants to do with her latest proposal: complete voting by mail.

Brunner, who has spent the past year and three months she has been in office rebuilding Ohio’s national reputation that was damaged during the 2004 presidential election, wants each county to have the authority to place before the voters the question of whether voting should be conducted only by mail.

“I at least want it out there for the sake of dialogue and discussion,” the secretary of state told the Columbus Dispatch.

But to have this dialogue and discussion, the Ohio General Assembly needs to pass legislation giving counties the opportunity to put the issue before their voters.

Brunner is not being unreasonable in her request for legislation, but she acknowledges that she does not anticipate overwhelming support for the idea.

That’s shortsighted.

It isn’t as though Ohio would be breaking new ground by exploring the vote-by-mail option. Oregon adopted this procedure many years ago, and in Washington state 37 of 39 counties use mail voting exclusively.

Indeed, when Oregon adopted the practice, the then director of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, Jim Dellick, expressed great interest not only because of the cost savings, but because of the anticipated increase in voter participation.

Voter fraud

Dellicks’s comments were contained in a news story, but The Vindicator editorially dismissed the idea, citing concerns about voter fraud.

But that was then. Today, voting by mail in Ohio is a reality via the absentee ballot.

Whereas in the past, a registered voter wanting an absentee ballot had to meet certain criteria, today, such a ballot is available to anyone. There doesn’t have to be a reason, which is why it’s now called no-fault voting.

What Secretary of State Brunner hopes to do is facilitate a public discussion about the pros and cons of voting by mail within the context of the challenges county boards of elections now face to maintain the traditional system.

Costs are rising, and meeting the statutory requirement of having two Democrats and two Republicans manning each precinct on Election Day is becoming increasingly difficult.

In fact, the Columbus Dispatch reports that one of the changes the secretary of state has proposed is to allow college students to serve as poll workers in the county where they live or go to school.

The newspaper reported on other proposals, including increasing the number of early-voting locations and early drop-off points for absentee balloting, and also permitting boards of elections to contact absentee voters to enable them to correct mistakes on their applications.

These and other changes are all designed to make it easier and convenient for Ohioans to particpate in elections.

That isn’t a bad thing.