Oregon Senator Ron Wyden promoted voting by mail on the Senate floor yeterday, during debate over the renewal of the Voting Rights Act (as reported in the Oregonian.

Wyden argued for voting by mail as:

• A way to increase turnout (empirical evidence says Wyden is wrong)
  
• A way to increase transparency and accountability (not sure what this means)
  
• A way to create a paper trail (true)
  
• A way to save costs (probably true, but not sure this is a good reason to
  dramatically change our method of balloting