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Oregon and Washington State residents are preparing for general elections this November. In the past few years, in the attempt to increase voter turnout, states have made changes in how votes are cast.  One of these changes is all-mail voting—conducting elections entirely by post—that only two states have adopted; Oregon in 1998 and Washington in 2011.

Though proponents say it could save millions of dollars each election cycle, many states are reluctant to embrace this, citing security concerns or the political parties desire to maintain the voting booth, or people wanting to continue the culture habit of going to the polls.  Also, it’s argued that when voters turn in ballots weeks before “election day” they will not have the benefit of learning new information that could change their vote. However, the trend is toward some form of early or by-mail voting, now available in 32 states.  Roughly 35% of the presidential ballots will be cast before Nov. 6.

Though election fraud is negligible, it does occur, usually with absentee and mail ballots.  According to the Washington State Constitution ballots are to be absolutely secret. But is this true today in Washington?

Take a few minutes to explore the ramifications of Washington State’s process of mailing ballots to the voters. Join David Madore, Stephen Pidgeon, Shahram Hadian and Ken Hutcherson as they discuss this issue and ask the questions; “Are our ballots secret?” “Do we have protection from voter fraud?”