[EL] Oregon SoS Demands that Postal Service Stop Delivering Ballots with Insufficient Postage?

[Scarberry, Mark]

Are voters in Oregon permitted to deliver their ballots in person to a public office? If not, then perhaps there is a substantial question here.

Mark S. Scarberry
Professor of Law
Pepperdine Univ. School of Law

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Gaddie, Ronald K.
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2012 12:28 PM
To: Dan Meek; David A. Holtzman
Cc: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Oregon SoS Demands that Postal Service Stop Delivering Ballots with Insufficient Postage?

Not snark, a sincere question: Are they imposing a cost on the voter by doing so?

Ronald Keith Gaddie, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science
Editor, Social Science Quarterly
The University of Oklahoma
455 West Lindsey Street, Room 222
Norman, OK  73019-2001
Phone 405-325-4989
Fax 405-325-0718
E-mail: rkgaddie at ou.edu<mailto:rkgaddie at ou.edu>
http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/G/Ronald.K.Gaddie-1
http://socialsciencequarterly.org
________________________________
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] on behalf of Dan Meek [dan at meek.net]
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2012 1:32 PM
To: David A. Holtzman
Cc: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] Oregon SoS Demands that Postal Service Stop Delivering Ballots with Insufficient Postage?
I have since learned that several counties in Oregon have been refusing to accept ballots that arrive at their offices with postage due.

Dan Meek

503-293-9021

dan at meek.net<mailto:dan at meek.net>

866-926-9646 fax


On 11/3/2012 10:46 AM, David A. Holtzman wrote:
Every chief elections official I've heard from about this
says that his or her office accepts and pays the postage for ballots mailed without postage.
That includes the City Clerk of Burbank, whose city elections are all vote-by-mail, like in Oregon.

In an all vote-by-mail election, wouldn't it actually be unconstitutional to not accept (or not deliver) ballots without postage,
because requiring paid postage would be tantamount to a poll tax?

  - dah
(in Los Angeles)


On 11/3/2012 9:34 AM, Dan Meek wrote:
An interesting issue has arisen in Oregon.

The press has obtained a letter, on United States Postal Service (USPS) letterhead, dated October 31, and apparently written by the Postmaster General, Patrick Donahoe, refusing the demand of the Oregon Secretary of State that the USPS stop delivering Oregon ballots that have insufficient postage.  See http://indparty.com/postmaster.pdf

According to the letter, the Oregon Secretary of State's Director of Elections told the Postmaster General that delivering these ballots to the county clerks is unconstitutional.

The Independent Party of Oregon has put out a press release denouncing the Oregon Secretary of State's attempt to stop the delivery of these ballots:
http://hosted.comm100.com/Newsletter/Newsletter_EmailWebVersion.aspx?key=9XaAUo92EKHvMpx1q5Pxh%2bGn61DDXup84SI8DspfM%2baip1QlDN80JA%3d%3d&siteId=39553

It notes the experience of Missoula County, MT, which has found there that 0.75% of all mailed ballots have insufficient postage.  See http://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/insufficient-postage-an-issue-with-many-montana-ballots-missoula-will/article_f59347b6-1f93-11e2-8d8a-001a4bcf887a.html

Dan Meek

503-293-9021

dan at meek.net<mailto:dan at meek.net>

866-926-9646 fax






_______________________________________________

Law-election mailing list

Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>

http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election


--
David A. Holtzman, M.P.H., J.D.
david at holtzmanlaw.com<mailto:david at holtzmanlaw.com>

Notice: This email (including any files transmitted with it) may be confidential, for use only by intended recipients.  If you are not an intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this email to an intended recipient, be advised that you have received this email in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this email in error, please immediately notify the sender and discard all copies.





_______________________________________________

Law-election mailing list

Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>

http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20121103/5c2afb21/attachment.html>