Kristin Eberhard

Eberhard is the director of the Democracy Program at Sightline Institute. She lives in Portland.

Oregonians virus-proofed their elections two decades ago, when they approved a ballot measure changing all elections in Oregon from traditional in-person voting to vote by mail. To keep democracy and voters safe from coronavirus, it's time for all other states to follow Oregon's lead and vote by mail.

In the face of this global pandemic, election administrators across the country are scrambling to make voting safe—some even delaying primary elections. And voters have been scrambling to figure out how they can vote safely, without exposing themselves to a room full of people and shared touch screens at polling places.

But not in Oregon– and Washington, Colorado, Utah, and Hawaii ­– where elections are proceeding safely and smoothly. All registered voters get a ballot in the mail, fill it out in the comfort of their own home, and either drop it back in the mail or bring it to a secure drop-off location.

As veterans of a successful, time-tested vote by mail system, Oregonians should be on the front lines, supporting national legislation and encouraging friends and family across the country to do the same. We know how it works here - Oregonians can help other Americans by sharing how smoothly it goes, how we vote in more elections and how we have time to make it all the way down the ballot to the local races. Explain to friends and family that we never wait in lines or miss work to exercise our right to vote, and we never worry about a machine deleting our vote.

Share your opinion Submit your essay of 500-700 words on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to commentary@oregonian.com. Please include your email and phone number for verification.

Although these five states took a few years to work up to full vote by mail, the good news is that other states don't have to—they can ramp up quickly, using the methods we've already developed for securely mailing, tracking, verifying , and counting ballots. For example, Oregon’s elections are secure with digital signature files for every voter. Every ballot has a unique barcode so no one can duplicate a ballot and try to vote twice. Voters receive a text message alerting them that their ballot has been received and counted (or notified if there was a problem, so you can still fix it).

More good news is that all 50 states already allow at least some voters to vote by mail. Election administrators across the country have some experience and systems in place. But while most states will allow anyone to directly request a mailed-out ballot for any reason, 16 states require voters to have an "excuse" for wanting to vote by mail, such as a disability or a medical emergency. At a minimum, those states should remove this barrier and let anyone who feels safer doing so fill out their ballot in their own home.

During this primary election, four state Democratic parties (in Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas, Wyoming) mailed out ranked-choice ballots to every voter registered with their party. This is turbo-boosting voters' power: they have time to carefully consider their options, and, if they wish, to rank more than one candidate in case their favorite drops out by the time their ballot is counted.

In response to the coronavirus threat, our own Sen. Ron Wyden has introduced a federal bill to move all 50 states to vote by mail, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. To protect November elections for everybody, Oregonians can tell voters around the country how much they love the ease and convenience of securely voting in their own homes. Vote by mail is an urgent measure as voters protect themselves from the coronavirus; it’s good for democracy, pandemic or no, because it makes it easier for everyone to vote.

Elections are run at the state and local levels, not by the federal government, so you can encourage people you know outside Oregon to contact their state legislators, governor, secretary of state or county election administrator and encourage them to ramp up their vote by mail capacity. A vote-by-mail system will safeguard voters’ health and keep our democracy alive and well in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.