BRIEF

Fall of 2020, three months before high-stakes U.S. elections, I was tasked with rethinking how Americans engage with local government. The prompt was simple: design a microsite to streamline how citizens access local government services.

The pandemic had paused the world. After six months of lockdown, people who were usually too busy were suddenly interested in the least sexy topic: local government. So I expanded the scope to see if there was any refuge in the sea of American discontent.

What I heard again and again was familiar: across every party, nearly everyone was frustrated. No one trusted politicians or the media, locally or nationally. Despite believing voting was essential, most didn’t fully understand what they were voting for—or if their vote even mattered.

Except in one unexpected state: Oregon. Vote-by-mail—a system where voters receive and return a physical paper ballot through the postal service—has quietly been in use in Oregon for over 50 years. And since 2000, it’s been the only option—there are no voting booths. No polling places. No lines. So how did Oregon become the only state spoken of with political reverence—twice, and from opposite sides of the aisle? The common thread: the Oregon Voter’s Pamphlet.