1. Eliminates your right to vote in your precinct. Prop 205 is called the "Your Right to Vote by Mail Act." Vote by Mail (VBM) is already your right. Prop 205 reduces your options and adds nothing new.
2. Degrades Auditing. 2% of precincts are audited, but only 1% of VBM ballots, and for these only the optical scanners are checked, not the vote totals in the canvass. The software for counting VBM ballots is the most vulnerable to bugs and fraud because software errors and manipulation can't be detected.
3. Loss of Overvote Check. If you mistakenly overvote, a precinct scanner will reject it and allow you the chance to fix it. With VBM, your vote won't count in the overvoted race.
4. Loss of Sanity Check. We would lose the ability compare returns from VBM and precinct-cast ballots in each precinct. Any significant percentage difference is cause for concern.
5. Greater Chance for Fraud and Corruption, especially with the loss of the sanity check. Since 2000, at least 15 states have seen criminal cases involving absentee voting [1]. In addition, political operatives can pick up ballots from elderly, disabled, and naive voters, targeting certain populations with likely political leanings.
6. Reduces Certainty Your Vote is Counted. When you feed your ballot into a precinct scanner, your vote is counted immediately. When you mail a ballot, you cannot be certain it was counted. In 2004, over a half-million absentee ballots were rejected on technical grounds. Best to drop your VBM ballot at a designated place (polls or early balloting sites).
7. Eliminates Exit Polls. Exit polls serve as another check on count accuracy.
8. Questionable Increase in Turnout. The primary stated reason for the initiative is debatable. Oregon saw a 10% increase, but studies show the increase is noticeable only in low profile elections and does not bring in new voters. In 2000, sixteen states had turnout increases that exceeded Oregon's just after Oregon passed their VBM-only law.
9. Slow Ballot Count. VBM ballots have to go through signature check and must be counted on a relatively small number of scanners (8 in Pima Co). Now, counting starts at least one week before the election, and ends a week after the election. It will just get worse.
10. Premature Decisions. The unexpected can happen just prior to election day. A mailed ballot cannot be changed.
Reduces Election Complexity. No poll workers, less maintenance and storage of equipment. Prop 205 would cause problems 1-10 in order to make life easier for election officials. Is it worth it?
[1] THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: FRAUD; Absentee Votes Worry Officials As Nov. 2 Nears, NY Times, 9/13/04. "One case resulted in the conviction of a voting-rights activist this year for forging absentee ballots in a Wisconsin county race. In another case, a Republican election worker in Ohio was charged with switching the votes of nursing-home residents in the 2000 presidential race. And last year in Michigan, three city council members pleaded guilty in a vote-tampering case that included forged signatures and ballots altered by white-out."