Mail Ballots Earn Stamp Of Approval For Mail Vote Increased Voter Turn-Out Is Not A Bad Thing.

Let’s see, what are the arguments again against vote-by-mail?

Oh, yeah, vote-by-mail means more people actually cast a ballot. Eek! That could be bad.

Vote-by-mail allows people to vote early when they have made up their minds, thereby missing all that last-minute TV mudslinging. Uh-oh, trouble.

Voting by mail makes it difficult for special interests to bring out a small number of voters to gain an advantage. Yikes! Political wonks wouldn’t want that.

The arguments against vote-by-mail hold about as much water as a broken sprinkler pipe.

The record on voter participation with mail-in ballots is clear: people like this option and voter turnout goes up when it is used.

In Oregon, Bob Packwood’s successor was chosen in a vote-by-mail election in January. Voter turnout hit 60 percent. The last few U.S. Senate races in Oregon attracted barely 40 percent of registered voters.

In Washington, seven counties introduced vote-by-mail for their 1994 county elections. Voter turnout hit 50 percent, up from an average of 38.8 percent in 1990.

Democracy is about people exercising their right to vote. It’s not about trying to manipulate the vote by making sure only the educated few ever get to the polls, or trying to sway things at the last minute with paid TV ads.

Recently in Spokane County two small, special interest groups called off city incorporation votes once the county auditor said mail-in ballots would be allowed. This shows how perverse our democratic process has become, and how vote-by-mail can help it.

Backers of incorporation for the Opportunity and Evergreen neighborhoods in the Spokane Valley angrily called off the May votes when they couldn’t block mail-in balloting.

The supporters essentially acknowledged that if more people voted, their incorporation notion would fail. The backers had bet if the vote could be limited just to those few who knew about it and supported it, the idea would fly.

If supporters of a ballot issue are scared off by the will of the people, the challenge is to do a better job of explaining the issue, not trying to rig the vote by hoping nobody notices it’s election day.

Very simply, vote-by-mail restores some truth and integrity to democracy.

, DataTimes MEMO: See opposing view under the headline: Going to polls pulls us together