Why Does President Trump Fear Oregon’s Vote-by-Mail System So Much?

When you toss your ballot in the mailbox next month without hunting for a postage stamp, thank Samantha Gladu.

Multnomah County Elections ballot envelopes. (Motoya Nakamura)

WW presents "Distant Voices," a daily video interview for the era of social distancing. Our reporters are asking Portlanders what they're doing during quarantine.

Samantha Gladu feels justifiably proud of Oregon's vote-by-mail system these days—and plenty protective of it.

Gladu is executive director of Next Up, the get-out-the-vote nonprofit once known as the Bus Project. When you toss your ballot in the mailbox next month without hunting for a postage stamp, thank Gladu: She was a fierce champion for Senate Bill 861, which in 2019 made Oregon ballots postage-free.

"Your mailbox is now a ballot drop site," she says, "and it doesn't cost anything to vote."

That looks prescient in a pandemic. So does Oregon's entire vote-by-mail system, a bipartisan creation that's loathed by the voter-suppressing wing of the national GOP.

We talked with Gladu about why President Donald Trump fears vote by mail so much. And we asked her how COVID-19 has otherwise changed the work of Next Up, which traditionally knocks on doors to register new voters. That tactic is out. So what now?

Aaron Mesh

Aaron Mesh is WW's editor. He’s a Florida man who enjoys waterfalls, Trail Blazers basketball and Brutalist architecture.

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