Yes, not everyone who encounters though issues is going to go back but it has the potential to take some of the wind out of the voter suppression sails and gives advocates a better opportunity to document the effect of those efforts.

Here’s a link to website with the FAQ for voting in Oregon:

http://www.oregonvotes.org/pages/faq/index.html

I don’t think any voting system is perfect but so far there have been no cases of fraud with this system plus it is cheaper and increases voter turnout. I thought I read somewhere (some years ago) that this system has pretty broad bipartisan support in Oregon but I can’t find any recent links.

The way it works is that all ballots are sent to voters by mail a couple of weeks before the election. But voters need not return the ballots in the same way. They can either return ballots by mail or drop them off in person at an official drop site.

In Oregon, all ballots must be received by 8 PM on election day. I believe that quite a few people will be dropping off their ballots today at the official drop off locations. This article (see http://wordpress.reed.edu/earlyvoting/commentary/the-is-little-early-early-voting-in-a-mature-early-voting-state/ ) says about 25% wait until election day to vote.

It’s a small point but I thought it was worth sharing.

I make calendars each year on Apple’s iPhoto system, and the calendar comes pre-populated with major holidays.  In 2011, they marked November 1 as Election Day; when the geniuses realized that they got it wrong, they decided that Election Day must be the second Tuesday in November, so the 2012 calendar has Election Day on November 13.