Organizing for America

Obama's Consistent Support for the Idea of Vote By Mail--But Not by Allowing Increased Fraud or Without Ensuring the Voting Rights of the Traditionally Disenfranchised

The Clinton campaign correctly points out that Senator Obama cosponsored a bill on vote by mail. Obama did cosponsor that bill, which would create a test program to study whether a vote by mail program similar to the one in Oregon could be expanded to other areas. However, they ignored that the test program included a study specifically to test what the impact of vote by mail would be on traditionally disenfranchised groups like minorities and people who move frequently and the likelihood of fraud and voter misconduct.

As the Clinton campaign points out, these are consistent with Obama campaign's recent concerns:

"Obviously there are concerns about a mail-in vote. I mean, there are concerns about eligibility, ballot security," [Axelrod] said during a conference call. [AP, 2/11/08]

Obama...said in an interview with CNN that he had reservations about a vote by mail. "I think there's some concerns in terms of making sure that whatever we do is fair, and that votes are properly counted and the logistics make sense," he said. [AP, 12/12/08]

SEC. 5. STUDY ON IMPLEMENTATION OF MAIL-IN VOTING FOR ELECTIONS.

(a) Study.--

(1) IN GENERAL.--The Comptroller General of the United States (in this section referred to as the ``Comptroller General'') shall conduct a study evaluating the benefits of broader implementation of mail-in voting in elections, taking into consideration the annual reports submitted by the Election Assistance Commission under section 4(g)(1)(C)(i) before November 1, 2009.

(2) SPECIFIC ISSUES STUDIED.--The study conducted under paragraph (1) shall include a comparison of traditional voting methods and mail-in voting with respect to--

(A) the likelihood of voter fraud and misconduct;

(B) the accuracy of voter rolls;

(C) the accuracy of election results;

(D) voter participation in urban and rural communities and by minorities, language minorities (as defined in section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973aa-1a)), and individuals with disabilities and by individuals who are homeless or who frequently change their official residences;

(E) public confidence in the election system;

(F) the residual vote rate, including such rate based on voter age, education, income, race, or ethnicity or whether a voter lives in an urban or rural community, is disabled, or is a language minority (as so defined); and

(G) cost savings.