Sound Off is a public forum. Articles are selected from letters to the editor or may be written specifically for this feature. Today, Diana Cieslak, a policy analyst with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, argues that voting by mail as Washington does creates the potential for abuse.

It was a typical Tuesday night—which meant I was buried in homework — but such was my lot as a history undergrad at Hillsdale. And yet here I was, driving for two hours across Michigan on the chilly evening of Nov. 4, 2004.

Why?

Because I had missed the deadline for registering for an absentee ballot, of course.

So what did I do? I hopped in my car, traversed 90 miles of Midwestern pavement to my old elementary school and voted.

Then I waved at my folks, turned around and headed back.

Voting for our political leadership is a tremendous privilege and responsibility so it’s natural that we want to conduct our elections in the most effective way possible.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean the most convenient way possible. In our technology-assisted customer-service culture, it’s easy to find a process flawed simply because it requires more effort than an alternative.

This year I had the luxury of filling out my ballot at home with the help of my computer and a delicious eggnog steamer. But what do we trade for all this convenience?

How much election integrity was sacrificed so that I could sit in the comfort of my home for a cozy evening of voting?

Before 1985, Washington voters could only vote-by-mail if they were truly unable to vote at their polling place.

That year, the law changed to allow voters to vote-by-mail without providing a reason, but only one election at a time.

In 1993, another change created “permanent absentee voters” who would automatically be sent a ballot by mail for each election.

Just three years ago, in 2005, counties were allowed to become all vote-by-mail.

This year, only King and Pierce Counties offered voters the option of casting a ballot at a traditional polling place.

Vote-by-mail has made voter registration problems more serious than ever. Now that voters don’t show up at the polls, registration is the frontline for election protection.

When the group ACORN submits thousands of obviously phony voter registration forms that election officials reject, how many less obvious phony registrations get through?

Last year it was Duncan the pet dog who successfully registered to vote in King County.

This year, it was a dog in Albuquerque.

And in Illinois, election officials mailed a registration form to a goldfish.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Concerns over convenience and voter participation are all well and good, but if citizens think their votes might be canceled out by Duncan the dog or Princess the goldfish, that’s bound to reduce their faith in the system and thus their motivation to vote.

And sometimes the most obvious solution really is the best.

I doubt there has ever been a problem with dogs or goldfish casting a ballot at a neighborhood polling place — just a hunch.

Duplicate registrations are another concern made worse by vote-by-mail. One media investigation turned up thousands of suspected matches on two states’ voter rolls.

These duplicates often happen because retirees are registered to vote in the northern state where they summer — and in the warm-weather state where they spend the winter.

They also can be college students registered at home and at school.

Voting by mail makes it much easier to cast more than one ballot than if a person had to actually visit different polling locations.

Even if the species and singularity of a registrant are verified, vote-by-mail is prone to other kinds of errors and dishonesty.

The system places a great deal of responsibility on private third-parties.

From the time a ballot is printed to the time it (hopefully) arrives in a voter’s hands, it may be handled by numerous individuals working for various government agencies and private businesses.

This is especially true on college campuses, nursing homes, and homeless shelters.

Hundreds of ballots may be dropped off by the postal service to a private mail room where they might sit around for days or weeks before being picked up.

Before 1993, permanent absentee voting was permitted, upon request, for those with a real reason for not going to the polls. But the rest of us should consider this carefully — is convenience worth sacrificing the integrity of our elections?

Come the next election, I’ll be at the polls — assuming there are any left.

Me and my goldfish.