SHHH. Can you hear it? Oregon is voting. And even though the Democratic nomination may end up being decided in great part by our votes here in the Beaver State, it remains a rather subtle event by all appearances.

Yes, amidst all the online chatter, behind all the headlines, going on without much fanfare at all, we are voting. In Oregon, this means that ballots are arriving and ballots are being filled in and mailed back. There are no precinct polling locations, there are no lines, there is no hush on the street as the devoted disciples of Democracy make the trek to a gymnasium or some other building to draw back a curtain, pull a lever, or touch a screen. There are, instead, the warnings not to use black pen (the ink contains traces of the color red, which the tallying machines cannot read) nor blue pen (which has been known to cause problems with the machines as well) but instead, the true and trusty pencil.

Oregon was the first state to implement all mail-in voting, and while some have worried that this method is one that leaves the process open to fraud, Oregon didn't pick the format capriciously or without good reason.

Oregon switched to mail in ballots in 1998, and as sensational as it sounds, the move was partly in response to an attempted coup on the town government by a cult practicing promiscuous sexual activity and domestic terrorism years earlier.

In 1981, a man named Baghwan Shree Rashneesh brought his followers to the town of Antelope, Oregon and purchased a ranch for almost six million dollars. Rashneesh and his followers gained control of the Antelope town council and then, by a vote of 57 to 22, changed the towns name to Rashneeshpuram.

In 1984, the group registered thousands of new voters that they had bused in from another area. The idea was to elect one of the cult members to a local judgeship position. But then, still not confident that these tactics would win the election, Rashneesh and his followers poisoned local salad bars, grocery store produce sections and even doorknobs with homegrown salmonella, hoping to suppress voter turnout.

The gambit ultimately did not succeed (although 751 Oregonians became ill from the food poisoning); the cult fell apart due to internal corruption and disorganization; the ranch was abandoned; Rashneesh arrested, found guilty on immigration fraud charges, convicted and deporte; and the town of Antelope given its name back.

And now? Oregon votes by mail-in ballot. It is a bit quiet and undramatic as far as voting goes. But it's a calm and a lack of drama that is appreciated locally.

In less than two weeks—on May 20, when all the votes are in and the results announced—it just might get a little louder around here.