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Lane County voter turnout lackluster as Tuesday election deadline approaches

A Lane County election worker checks a tray of envelopes to make sure all ballots are turned the same direction so they can be processed.
Rebecca Hansen-White
/
KLCC
A Lane County election worker checks to make sure all ballot envelopes are turned the same direction so they can be processed.

As of Friday, only 12% of active Lane County voters had turned in their ballot for the May 21 election.

Lane County Clerk Dena Dawson says she anticipates turnout will be around 45%, though she hopes this year will be higher.

“In elections you go back to like elections, so I’m going back and looking at the election from four years ago, the turnout was 47% percent,” she said. “I would love to have 50% or 60%. We want people to vote.”

She says voters who are still holding on to their ballots should put them in the dropbox, or mail them as soon as possible.

“It’s always heartbreaking to me, especially in a presidential election,” Dawson said, “that people get distracted with other things and they show up after the ballot boxes are closed and you just can’t accept that ballot.”

Dawson says returning ballots early also gives voters and the election office plenty of time to resolve any signature issues.

Ballots are due before 8 p.m. on Election Day, which is Tuesday.

You can find more information about Lane County elections online, and check your voter registration information on the Oregon Secretary of State’s website.

Rebecca Hansen-White joined the KLCC News Department in November, 2023. Her journalism career has included stops at Spokane Public Radio, The Spokesman-Review, and The Columbia Basin Herald.