Oregon officials urge voters to use ballot drop boxes
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
More reliable than a mail box, according to state voting officials. Photo: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images
Oregon election officials are urging voters to use ballot drop boxes instead of relying on the mail for the upcoming election.
Why it matters: The move comes after officials revealed a record number of late-arriving ballots in the May primary election were rejected for being postmarked after Election Day.
Driving the news: Top state elected officials said Tuesday they were committed to protecting Oregon's vote-by-mail elections as the Supreme Court considers legal challenges that could affect how vote-by-mail states operate, just weeks before ballots go out.
- They also said that the best way for voters to make sure their ballots are counted is to use a drop box, not the U.S. Postal Service.
Zoom in: Earlier Tuesday, Secretary of State Tobias Read requested $1.25 million in emergency funding to add 20 ballot drop boxes, expand ballot tracking statewide and update the state's inactive voter list.
Context: Ballots in Oregon are counted for up to seven days after an election, provided they are postmarked before Election Day.
- But recent changes to how USPS processes mail mean most ballots are postmarked the day after they're mailed.
- More than 13% of ballots received during the seven-day grace period after the May primary were rejected for late postmarks, Read said.
Between the lines: The Supreme Court is weighing whether to permit the Department of Homeland Security to compile lists of citizens eligible to vote and allow the USPS to accept ballots from voters only on those lists.
- Eligible voter rolls constantly change as people move, die, turn 18 or change their names. A national list would quickly become outdated, according to voting rights groups.
- Ballots are set to be mailed out to Oregon voters in the military and overseas by next week.
The bottom line: "Expanding drop box access and providing a means for voters to track their ballot are some of the tools we have to protect Oregonians' right to vote," per a statement from Read.
- "Every eligible Oregonian should have a clear and dependable way to cast a ballot and be confident that their vote gets counted."