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Too Late To Mail Ballots For May 21 Election

Brian Bull
/
KLCC

If you want to vote in the May 21 election, you’ll have to return your ballot by using a drop box. It’s too late to mail ballots to ensure they’ll arrive on time.

Most Oregon voters are deciding on school board seats, along with races for community college boards and fire districts. Some areas have tax levies on the ballot, including the Eugene School District and the City of Corvallis. Lane County voters are also deciding whether to approve $154 million in bonds to replace the 60-year-old county courthouse.

Turnout for the election has been low so far, with some counties struggling to reach double-digit percentages of ballot returns by the middle of this week. 

By Thursday, just 8.3% of registered voters in Linn County had returned their ballots, according to the county elections office. In neighboring Benton County, the return rate is twice that, with 16.5% of ballots returns as of the Wednesday afternoon update.

In Lane County, the ballot return rate was 10.8% as of the Monday, May 13 update.

In order to be counted, ballots have to be returned to a drop box or elections office by 8 p.m. on Election Night, May 21. Postmarks do not count toward meeting the deadline.

Chris Lehman has been reporting on Oregon issues since 2006. He joined the KLCC news department in December 2018 and became News Director in March 2023. Chris was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and graduated from Temple University with a degree in journalism. His public broadcasting career includes stops in Louisiana and Illinois. Chris has filed for national programs including “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”
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