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With primary elections taking place on May 21, Oregon officials have sent out the ballots and prepared the way to accept and process returning ballot papers across the state.
Jackson County Clerk, Chris Walker, recently confirmed that- while encouraged, party registration isn’t a requirement to vote. Non-affiliated voters exceed the number of voters in certain counties as voters are registered without a party affiliation when they renew their driver’s license or update information with Oregon’s DMV.
See also: Non-Affiliates Take The Lead In Local Elections As Voting Deadline Looms
Mailed Ballots Vs Ballot Box Votes
Deciding on nominees for Congress, the state legislature, and key state leadership positions such as the secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, and several other local races, the primary elections are set to take place on May 21. In Oregon and seven other states ( California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, Vermont, and Washington), and the District of Columbia, voting is allowed to be conducted entirely by mail.
Oregon started accepting ballots postmarked on Election Day in 2022 but Steve Dennison, Deschutes County Clerk, has urged caution to ensure votes are correctly postmarked.
He noted that in rural areas or east of the Cascades, local mail travels to distant processing centers and may not be postmarked straight away. He confirmed that if the ballot has a postmark after Election Day, it can’t be counted. He urged voters to use any of the drop boxes around the state.
Counties In Oregon Gearing Up To Receive Primary Ballots
As voter pamphlets are being distributed across Oregon, Central Oregon elections officials were getting ready to action the democratic process, including unlocking ballot boxes in the rural counties.
Crook County has about 21,600 registered voters and County Clerk, Cheryl Seely, advised that registered voters who haven’t received a ballot by May 8 should get in touch with their local county clerk’s office. The local clerk’s office checks each returning ballot’s signature against what’s on file. She said, “It is human eyes that see those, and make that call.”
Each county clerk’s office uses several state-certified methods to verify and process ballots locally across all of Oregon’s 36 counties. In the 2020 presidential election, Crook County overwhelmingly supported former President Donald Trump, who lost but then falsely claimed the election results were rigged. Seely invited any locals who distrust the election process to visit her office.
She confirmed votes are counted locally in Crook County and said, “Go watch the process, talk with your county clerk if you’ve got questions, and ask those questions.”
Seely’s office is ready to receive ballots and verify voter signatures as soon as vote counting begins on May 14, and they will livestream the vote-counting process in the week before and on Election Day. She confirmed that their ballot boxes are out and open as of today. Ballots can be mailed in or dropped in the ballot boxes which can be found on the Oregon Drop Box Locator.
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