What was previously a somewhat little-known fact about Oregon, is suddenly front page news. Oregon is the first and only state in the U.S. to do all of its elections by mail. (And for once, Oregon's vote actually counted!) This totally makes sense to me. Oregon is very independent and likes to do its own thing. It has a low population relative to the size of the state, so not only would mail-in voting save money, but given the wide expanse, it's much more convenient (who wants to drive 2 hours through the mountains to place their vote?).
This was a new experience for me though. I have always gone to a voting booth and in NYC, the lines are always crazy long. While it was admittedly a bit of a pain, I also liked the interactivity of that process--leaving work early, grabbing a coffee, talking politics while standing in line. So it was really strange to find out a few weeks ago that I would be required to mail in my vote.
Filling out the ballot was sort of like taking an SAT test. While it took away some of the fun of the process for me, it also made me much more diligent about voting for offices I would have frankly ignored in the past. (Granted, even with the booklet I was sent, I did have to pick a couple of county candidates based on their hair in the picture and how funny their name sounded, but I swear I only did that twice. C'mon, don't tell me you've never done that.)
Anyway, I was proud of how it all turned out. Medford actually went to Obama!
Per the Associated Press, with 94% of the vote counted in Oregon, Obama was winning by a 59-41% margin. Obama won Oregon with the support of men and young people, but also found plenty of votes from blue-collar workers who have been the staple of Clinton victories in other states, according to surveys of voters. As a group, only those making less than $30,000 a year and those over 65 favored Clinton. Women were evenly divided between Obama and Clinton, but men voted for Obama 2-to-1.
