A proposal to ask Oregonians to end vote-by-mail elections generated so much reaction Monday that the Legislature’s website ceased to function properly.

Senate Bill 210 appears to have little future in a state where supermajority Democrats broadly support mail-in voting. But at a time President Donald Trump is already attempting to shake up election rules and has routinely cast doubt on election integrity, the specter of ending the decades-long practice inspired an outpouring.

By the time SB 210 got a hearing early Monday afternoon, more than 9,000 pieces of testimony were submitted to the Oregon Legislative Information System website, or OLIS – the vast majority in opposition.

That activity appeared to be the cause of a pronounced slow down of the website. SB 210’s sponsor, state Sen. David Brock-Smith, R-Port Orford, dubbed it “the bill that broke OLIS” in testimony before the Senate Rules Committee.

Oregon has used mail voting exclusively in elections since 2000 – the first state to do so – but has used the process to some extent since the 1980s.

The bill wouldn’t force any changes to Oregon elections on its own. It would instead ask voters whether or not to approve the changes in the November 2026 election.

Among those changes, elections in Oregon would revert to largely in-person voting at polling places, with exceptions for people who are in the military, living overseas, or unable to travel to a voting site. Polling places would be required to remain open at least eight hours on Election Day, and voters would have to submit a photo ID before voting in all cases. The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office and county elections officials would establish rules for how many polling places are required in each of the state’s 36 counties.

“The opportunity within this piece of legislation is to let the voters of this state reaffirm whether or not vote-by-mail is their choice,” Brock-Smith said.

Past polling has suggested that Oregonians appreciate filling out ballots at home. When Portland firm DHM Research last asked about the issue, in late 2018, 71% of voters statewide said they preferred to vote by mail. Just 18% of respondents said they wanted the option of voting in person, and 2% said they wanted Oregon to require voting exclusively in person.

More than 150 people signed up to testify on the bill in Monday’s hearing, with supporters of ending mail-in voting sometimes breaking out in applause.

Those proponents frequently offered testimony that expressed suspicion with the accuracy and security of Oregon’s elections, raising concerns about ballot box stuffing and dead or nonexistent voters receiving ballots.

A Medford resident named Wanda Cockey wrote to lawmakers that she routinely receives ballots for people who used to live at her address.

“I am absolutely sure that we are not the only ones who have this occur,” Cockey wrote. “Oregon has not cleaned up their voting registry and therefore enable these types of ballots on other’s names to go out to numerous households with offer [of] easy fraudulent voting.”

“Oregonians deserve to have fair and transparent elections,” a Silverton resident named Tara Pyle wrote in testimony. “Please help bring back honest elections.”

SB 210’s opponents responded that vote-by-mail is secure and convenient, crediting it with boosting voter turnout in Oregon to some of the nation’s highest.

“It is a voter-centric way to do it,” said Barbara Smith Warner, a former state representative who now runs a nonprofit that promotes vote-by-mail. “Instead of you having to get your ballot, your ballot comes to you. It’s extremely secure.”

State Sen. James Manning, a Eugene Democrat who ran for secretary of state last year, said he didn’t encounter worries about vote-by-mail while out on the campaign trail. He pointed out that voters can already fill out a ballot at their county elections office if they choose.

“I’m trying to figure out: Is this an issue looking for a problem? Because I don’t see it here in our state,” Manning said. “This is something that’s a national movement to try to make something of nothing.”

Trump, who has repeatedly made baseless claims about fraudulent elections, has often been critical of mail-in voting. But he stopped short of attempting to seriously curtail it in an executive order issued last week.

If it withstands legal challenges, that order would force people to prove their citizenship before they could be registered to vote. It would also end the practice – in Oregon and other states – of tabulating mailed ballots that are postmarked by Election Day, even if they are received after.

Oregon’s election infrastructure has come under fire in the last six months, following revelations the state’s Driver and Motor Vehicle Services office mistakenly registered more than 1,600 people to vote who had not offered a proof of citizenship. A tiny fraction of those people ultimately voted, and the Oregon Department of Justice is investigating at least three people criminally.

State officials say they’ve taken steps to eliminate the problems, which they attributed to staff error. More than three million Oregonians are registered to vote.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/03/31/bill-to-end-vote-by-mail-slows-oregon-legislative-website-to-a-crawl/