By ANDREW SELSKY, Associated Press

SALEM — More state elections directors are expressing interest in Oregon’s vote-by-mail elections, Oregon’s elections director said Tuesday as Democratic Party officials in Iowa struggled to tally votes from their presidential caucus.

“I just got back from a conference of all the state election directors, and there’s more and more discussion, more and more questions about, ‘Hey, can vote by mail help us,’ and, you know, my answer is always, 'Yes, obviously, we’ve been doing this for over 20 years now," said Oregon Elections Director Steve Trout.

In addition to Oregon, Washington and Colorado also have all-mail elections.

With Oregon voters mailing their ballots or leaving them at official drop boxes, hackers have fewer places to get in and target the election system. Unlike in Iowa, there is no need for elections officials to use an app.

“I've only got 38 places in the state that I have to secure: Each of the 36 counties and we've got one server here and one in Baker City,” Trout said. "Whereas if you've got polling places, you can have hundreds, thousands of places that you have to secure and also have logistical challenges of sharing those results and the ballots, getting them back to the to the central warehouse.”

The server in Baker City, in eastern Oregon, provides redundant protection for the server in Salem, so if one fails, the other can be accessed by elections officials, Trout said. If results from an Oregon county appeared to have been compromised or were subject to a recount, there exists a complete paper trail of ballots that could be retallied.

-- The Associated Press