PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — With the presidential election less than a month away, mail-voting is stirring debates in states where it is allowed, including Oregon.
The Multnomah County Director of Elections says Oregon was the first state in the country to introduce 100% mail-in voting and instances of mail-in voting fraud are extremely rare.
Oregon has many security measures in place to prevent fraud. Ballots are thoroughly reviewed in each county where they are mailed. In Multnomah County, computer software helps flag potential issues that are then reviewed by actual people. The software uses security steps like signature matching to check that a signature on a ballot matches the person’s DMV or voter registration information. If it’s not a 100% match, the software alerts officials trained in forensic handwriting analysis who then personally review it.
“We’re able to see if somebody is who they say they are by matching that signature that’s a really effective way and we verify every single signature,” said Tim Scott, the director of elections for Multnomah County. “I don’t want people to think ‘oh well, it’s a random process and I might get away with it’ — it really isn’t.”
In Oregon, if a ballot gets rejected because a signature doesn’t match or a ballot isn’t fully signed, officials will mail the person a letter giving them 14 days to fix the issue.
Scott said it’s impossible to forge a ballot or for someone to vote twice. Each ballot has an ID number that’s unique to that envelope: even if someone where to receive two ballots in the mail, only one would be counted.
The deadline to register to vote is October 13. Ballots will be mailed the same day. You can track your ballot, see when it’s mailed and when it’s counted by visiting the following sites:
Track your ballot in Multnomah County
Track your ballot for rest of Oregon