A controversial bill that could repeal Oregon’s vote by mail system resulted in a heated public hearing Monday afternoon, as dozens of individuals argued for and against scrapping the state’s first-in-nation voting system.

Senate Bill 210, sponsored by Republican Sens. David Brock Smith and Kim Thatcher, would ask voters to decide in November 2026 whether to retain Oregon’s vote by mail system, which has been in place for more than two decades.

The proposed measure would also require voters to present a government-issued ID when voting in person and would limit mail-in voting to citizens who are unable to vote in person.

The bill has almost no chance of advancing, as Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans in both of Oregon’s legislative chambers and the party strongly favors vote by mail and its track record of expanding voter turnout.

That hasn’t stopped thousands of Oregonians from sharing their thoughts with lawmakers. More than 9,000 residents submitted testimony opposing the bill — roughly six times the 1,600 who wrote in asking lawmakers to support the proposal.

And it didn’t stop dozens of Oregonians from showing up Monday to share their thoughts in person with the Senate Rules Committee.

“We cannot afford the kind of voting mechanisms we’re doing now,” said Ayla Hofler, a Burns resident who supported the bill. “There is no way to secure our votes … we need to have in person voting.”

During a 90 minute public hearing, supporters of the bill claimed, without evidence, that Oregon’s voting system has created opportunities for wide scale voter fraud. They asked lawmakers to reinstate in-person voting, which they said would improve integrity in the voting system.

In 2017, Republican Secretary of State Dennis Richardson vowed to aggressively root out fraudulent voting – and eventually prosecutors secured convictions of 10 Oregon voters, most of whom voted in two states but said they did so due to forgetfulness or poor health. Those 10 votes cast in Oregon’s 2016 fall election represented a miniscule fraction of the 2.05 million votes cast.

One supporter of the bill, Karen Goodness, said ending Oregon’s vote by mail system would be an opportunity to “start all over again,” citing election fraud claims from a 2022 national documentary that have been debunked by experts.

Representatives for several advocacy groups testified in opposition to the bill, stating that Oregon’s voting system is secure and easy for residents to follow and understand. They refuted claims that mail-in voting has led to significant fraud.

“We have older members who remember what it’s like to wait in long lines at the polls and have come to support and rely heavily on our vote by mail process for accessing the democratic process,” said Elsie Elling, political and policy strategist for the Oregon chapter of SEIU, the large public employee union.

Lamar Wise, political director for Oregon AFSCME, said the proposals in the bill would unnecessarily increase costs to conduct elections and would not improve the state’s voting system.

“There’s no evidence that this would change or improve election integrity, but there’s plenty of evidence that it would make voting harder and more expensive,” Wise said.

The bill is highly unlikely to advance. While several Republican lawmakers said low public trust in voting systems makes the proposal timely, several Democrats defended Oregon’s voting system and said they would not support the bill.

“Democrats in the Legislature don’t have any interest in rolling back vote by mail,” House Speaker Julie Fahey, a Eugene Democrat, told reporters Monday. “It is a very popular program. Oregonians of all political affiliations love vote by mail.”

— Carlos Fuentes covers state politics and government. Reach him at 503-221-5386 or cfuentes@oregonian.com.

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