Seriously why do we have voting places anymore? Just do it all by mail.

You're doing it wrong. Before you go to vote, do all of that stuff you listed after the word "versus". Instead of marking a ballot, just write it down on a piece of paper. Bring that paper with you when you vote. Worked well for me during 30 years of going to a polling place.

Me, as a Washington resident, I miss going to the polling place. I dunno, I just liked the whole physical process of going to our designated place, mingling with my neighbors and fellow citizens...and going into work late because you wouldn't dare ding me for voting. Because you don't hate democracy...do you? Now voting is just more paperwork I have to do, along with rebalancing my 401K and filling out those insurance forms I've been putting off.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/07/magazine/the-supreme-court...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/01/opinion/voting...

People may be expressing an interest or searching for information even if they're not experiencing it directly.

Just regular people scared by media propaganda. That would be my guess. Exactly like the other items in the list. 'Long lines' doesn't mean people forming long lines are searching for it.

And the mere threat of intimidation will be enough to keep people home googling instead of voting.

At any rate, Oregon provides the perfect control for any theoretical 'googling out of idle curiosity' crowd.

What does 'intimidation' mean though? what are they going to do?