QuickTake:

President Donald Trump has criticized vote-by-mail. In Oregon, the first state to conduct elections entirely with mailed ballots, Trump’s attacks on the system are drawing pushback from Democratic leaders and vote-by-mail experts.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incompletely described how vote-by-mail works in states that mail ballots to voters.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and other Oregon elected officials defended the state’s long history of voting by mail Wednesday, Sept. 24, as the system comes under attack from President Donald Trump.

Oregon was the first state to conduct elections entirely by mail. In recent months, Trump has criticized vote-by-mail and recently appeared to be taking cues on the issue from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Vladimir Putin, smart guy, said you can’t have an honest election with mail-in voting,” Trump said on Fox News’ “Hannity,” according to a Reuters report.

Trump has said he’s open to an executive order targeting vote-by-mail, though states, not the federal government, have the constitutional and legal ability to run their elections.That’s why there’s a patchwork of election laws across the United States with Oregon and seven other states conducting elections entirely by mail, with ballots that are automatically sent to voters.

The executive order has not yet emerged. But Oregon’s Democratic leaders aren’t letting Trump’s comments go unnoticed and promised to defend vote-by-mail.

“The reason we’re talking about vote-by-mail today is because, while it sounds bizarre, Donald Trump is taking advice on American elections from Vladimir Putin,” Wyden told reporters assembled Wednesday in the Wayne L. Morse U.S. Courthouse in Eugene.

Wyden has proposed a bill that would provide more resources and funding to help states that opt to expand vote-by-mail. Wyden said the bill’s goal isn’t to force states to adopt the system, but to give them tools to provide it and expand accessibility. 

“As you heard from the senator, the president is now parroting election advice from Vladimir Putin to get rid of vote-by-mail,” Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, the state’s top elections official, said. “But in Oregon, we know better. We’ve been voting by mail for decades, safely, securely and fairly. We all know this. It is more convenient, it saves money and it boosts participation. That is how democracy should work.”

Read said Trump’s targeting of the system is a “deliberate attempt to make voting harder, more expensive and less secure.”

“President Trump is scared,” Read said. “He’s scared of losing power in a free and fair election in 2026.”

State legislators touted the success of vote-by-mail. House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, said a Republican bill targeting vote-by-mail drew so much opposition in the last session that the submitted testimony overwhelmed the Legislature’s website. The bill failed.

“Oregonians spoke up so loudly against the idea of repealing vote-by-mail that it actually broke the internet,” Fahey said.

Sen. James Manning, D-Eugene, said vote-by-mail systems help expand access to rural and senior voters, with ample security and tracking systems for ballots.

Oregon’s path to vote by mail

In 2000, Oregon became the first state to conduct voting entirely by mail, after voters in 1998 approved the expansion of vote-by-mail to primary and general elections.

The state’s path to reach that point took decades. In 1981, Oregon lawmakers approved a test of vote-by-mail for local elections. By 1987, most counties were using it for local and special elections.

In the 1990s, efforts unfolded in the Legislature to expand vote-by-mail. In January 1996, Oregon became the first state to conduct a general election entirely by mail to fill a vacancy for the U.S. Senate. Voters picked Wyden to replace U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood with a 66% turnout. 

That makes Wyden the first U.S. senator to win an election conducted entirely through the mail. In the press event, Wyden was quick to point out the issue’s bipartisan reach: Republican candidates can win in vote-by-mail elections too.

Since then, vote-by-mail has increased. Washington, D.C., and eight states, including Oregon, directly mail ballots to registered voters and allow them to vote by mail or through other options, including dropping a ballot off at an elections office. The other states are: Washington, California, Utah, Hawaii, Colorado, Nevada and Vermont, according to the National Vote at Home Institute, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the system. Each state’s system varies slightly, even while allowing vote-by-mail. Some of those states still have traditional voting on Election Day at polling places. Oregon does not.

Even more states use vote-by-mail to a lesser degree, such as requiring a reason to vote by mail, requiring voters to request a ballot or a combination.

Still, voting by mail has a long history in the United States, dating back to the Civil War era, said Barbara Smith Warner, executive director of the National Vote at Home Institute and a former Oregon state legislator.

At the core of the voting system is the principle of making voting as accessible as possible, Smith Warner said. 

“There is nothing easier than having every voter automatically get a ballot mailed to them,” Smith Warner said. 

To learn about elections and the vote-by-mail system in Oregon, visit the Oregon Secretary of State website.

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.