Vote At Home
“Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples." — Rigoberta Menchú Tum (K'iche' Guatemalan human rights activist, feminist, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1992)
In 2024, KABF Chair Debra Hannula spoke to Barbara Smith Warner, Executive Director of the National Vote At Home Institute (NVAHI), whose nonprofit works nationally to promote mail-in voting, or as NVAHI calls it, voting from home.
Ms. Warner was an elected legislator from 2014 until 2022, including serving as the House Majority Leader in Oregon. After deciding not to run again, she sought an equally rewarding position with NVAHI. The brainchild of Phil Keisling, a former Oregon Secretary of State, NVAHI was modeled after Keisling’s success in Oregon. Keisling had seen the positive effects of voting from home. As Warner told Debra, “Oregon is the first state beginning in the year 2000 to automatically send a ballot to every active registered voter for every election.”
Warner stated that NVAHI actively engages with election administrators at both the state and local level as well as the advocates and civic groups working on voter registration and engagement. NVAHI explains to those involved in voter engagement that multiple states allow citizens to sign up for voting at home and as their recurring preferred method of voting, without needing to provide a reason like being sick or out of town. What that means for those helping to register voters in states that include Florida, Georgia, Ohio, New York, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania is that they can tell those citizens that not only can they register to vote, but they can register to vote at home; what we used to call absentee ballots or mail-in ballots. That’s a game-changer! And many have what’s called a single sign up where your status as receiving mailed-out ballots is permanent. These states include Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey and Virginia.
Though just in its infancy, NVAHI has already been successful. As Ms. Warner told Debra: “When the National Vote At Home Institute started in 2018, only three states automatically sent ballots to voters’ homes. Today, every active registered voter in eight states and D.C. automatically gets a ballot delivered for every election. Dozens more states now allow voters to request a ballot with no excuse, but rules vary across states and even counties. Voting at home significantly increases voter turnout, especially among 18–34-year-olds.”
KABF was happy to support NVAHI. We applaud and support their efforts to protect and defend our democracy. We love the idea of all U.S. citizens voting in their pajamas while drinking coffee and researching the candidates and issues on the ballot. This just makes common sense. Let’s end this outdated, unnecessary, undemocratic idea that voting should be on one day, that isn’t a holiday, so people have to take time off work, obtain child care, hope they’re not ill that day or physically unable to stand in long lines. Kelly would agree.
For more information, visit www.voteathome.org.
