HARRISBURG -- Debate over the viability of modern electronic voting machines continues to percolate among county elections officials around the state.

At the same time, legislators could eventually decide to turn back the clocks -- to snail mail.

Bill Bradbury, the secretary of state in Oregon, traveled here recently to tout his state's procedure of voting by mail. He conceded that making the process work in Pennsylvania may require some tinkering.

The chairwoman of the House State Government Committee, Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, wanted Mr. Bradbury to share his experiences with Oregon's system as she begins to draw up her own vote-by-mail legislation. It's intended to increase voter participation in elections, but it's not likely to be introduced until the fall.

Oregon is currently the only state that has a 100 percent vote-by-mail system. Mr. Bradbury called it "absentee voting on a large scale."

The state of Washington, Oregon's neighbor in the Northwest, currently leaves decisions on voting methods up to its counties. This year, all but one will hold elections entirely by mail. Mr. Bradbury projected that by 2010, a majority of voters in California will cast their ballots by mail.

He cited a high rate of voter participation in Oregon. Pennsylvania's secretary of state, Pedro Cortes, said Oregon was fifth nationally in eligible voter turnout on Election Day 2004.

Mr. Bradbury said the vote-by-mail process has now maintained that level of participation over 10 years. Oregon first started using it for local elections in 1981, and by 1998 was using mail voting as its only method.

He acknowledged that West Coast states like Oregon do not tend to harbor the longstanding political machines of Pennsylvania's urban centers, making potential implementation here a slightly different matter.

In Oregon, voters are allowed to hold "ballot-marking parties" at which citizens can gather to fill out their ballots together, Mr. Bradbury said.

Each ballot must be signed by the voter and, once they are mailed or placed in what he called "conveniently located" drop boxes, the signatures are confirmed by state officials. Mr. Bradbury said Pennsylvania might have to look into not allowing for group consideration of the ballots, given its differing political environment.

"Sure, you'd need to be careful about that. I think it's really a question of 'Do you trust your people or not?'" he said.

Some lawmakers at the meeting raised concerns about ballot safety and fraud, which committee Executive Director Rodney Oliver said would need to be "examined very closely" before the state proceeds with vote-by-mail legislation.

But he said he didn't think group consideration of the ballots would need to be struck from a potential version of vote-by-mail in Pennsylvania. He said people currently gather to discuss the issues and how they're going to vote.

In Oregon's system, officials begin mailing out ballots three weeks before Election Day, and votes can be cast anytime during that period. Mr. Bradbury said the fact that a significant number of ballots are already cast before the waning days of a contest has a profound effect on campaign politics, making "the last-minute negative hit not effective."

The recent Democratic presidential primary highlighted Oregon's process, with speculation as to whether Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., had already won the state before the May 20 primary arrived.

The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania opposes voting by mail. The League of Women Voters does not have a position on the issue.

In 2005, the Pennsylvania Election Reform Task Force, headed by Mr. Cortes, did not recommend voting by mail. One concern, Mr. Cortes said, was that voting by mail would diminish the "communal experience" of voting.

Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Northampton, also expressed concern about the elimination of polling place voting marking the "end of a civic ritual."

Mr. Bradbury said Oregonians have "established a new kind of civic ceremony" in which families fill out their ballots while reading election pamphlets at the breakfast table.