Can someone send me that Roll Call story on vote by mail?  I am
conducting research into early voting and have done some fairly
extensive work on VBM.  I'm not familiar with the comparative studies
of voting fraud that Rep. Davis cites.  I do have very good
information about ballot integrity under VBM that will be discussed at
the June 30th Carter/Baker commission hearing.

Just a little complaint about the title of Rick's summary (apologies
ahead of time if this is taken directly from Roll Call): "improve
American democracy" is a pretty broad claim.  Voting by mail *may*
reduce the incidence of fraud, but at what cost to other aspects of
the voting process?  What will its impact be on participation?  On
broadening the electorate?  On elections as civic and community
events?  The debate of voter ID ought to have taught us that fraud, by
itself, is only one facet of the voting process.

It is a mistake, in my opinion, to focus on fraud alone as our measure
of the quality of American democracy.

On 6/22/05, Rick Hasen <Rick.Hasen@lls.edu> wrote:

 
"Voting by Mail Could Improve American Democracy" 

Rep. Susan Davis offers this Roll Call oped (paid subscription required). A
snippet: "Critics of voting by mail claim that it causes a rise in voter
fraud. Yet studies show that there are more incidents of alleged fraud at
polling places than in voting by mail. There are also extremely low
incidences of fraud with voting by mail when compared to other methods of
voting. The state of Oregon, which runs its elections entirely by mail, has
prosecuted only four cases of fraud in the last six elections."