Voter ID laws and Marriage

[Jenny A]

Good God!

• "This election year, every eligible Colorado voter is getting their ballot in the mail. It's a system used by only two other states -- Oregon and Washington.
  
  ...
  
  "Those who still want to vote the old-fashioned way can do so, by bringing their unused mail-in ballots to a polling place and handing them in before voting."

Sounds to me like in the USA the homeless are not allowed to exercise their right to vote.

I live in Oregon. I don't know about Washington or Colorado, but the homeless can vote in Oregon despite mail-in ballots. Persons without mailing addresses can have their ballots mailed to the County Clerks office and pick them up there. They can also have them mailed to a shelter, a P.O. box, a friend's house, or other accommodation address. Ballots can be returned by mail or in person.

Voting by mail has dramatically increased voter turnout in Washington and Oregon, the two states which have previously had vote by mail.

All ballots are placed in an outer envelope signed by the voter and the signatures are checked against the signature on file. The inner envelope containing the ballot is then removed for tabulating. It's a better system than requiring voter ID on election day.

However, I have one nagging concern and that is the guarantee of a secret ballot and fear of coercion. Once some years ago a co-worked bragged he told his wife how to vote and she voted the he told her too. I asked him how he knew, and he got very quiet. The thing is that in voting booth no one can see you vote. Now, with the ballot arriving in the mail, he could check his wife's ballot before she mailed it. Theoretically a parent or a boss might do the same. So far there haven't been any allegations of this type of coercion but it is possible as never before.