Oregon's voter registration deadline is approaching

Oregonians are flocking to local election offices as Tuesday's deadline to register to vote approaches.

“We’re pretty busy,” Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott said Monday. “We had a steady flow of people coming into the office today to register.”

According to the latest data from the Oregon Secretary of State, just over three million Oregonians have registered to vote so far. There are 1,005,275 Democrats, 730,249 Republicans and 1,108,299 independent voters statewide, according to state data.

By Election Day, Scott expects a high voter turnout of over 80% in Multnomah County. He's curious about when people will return their ballots, which would affect how many can be counted on election night.

“It's higher when people vote early, and it's lower when people vote late,” Scott said.

The county election office is also preparing for Portland's first election by using ranked-choice voting and educating voters through events, billboards and bus signage. He said election officials are concerned about the spread of misinformation on social media.

“We try to be very proactive in disseminating information through press releases and social media to make sure people know we are the trusted source of information,” he said. “But we also didn’t see a big increase in this election, at least not in Multnomah County.”

Overall, the number of registered Republican and Democratic voters in Oregon fell by more than 85,000 people compared to the same period in 2020, according to state data.

John Horvick, pollster and senior vice president of DHM Research, attributes the increase in unaffiliated voters to the state's motor voter system, which automatically registers voters as unaffiliated voters when they purchase a state driver's license or ID card. He says those voters are mostly young people who are new to Oregon.

Gov. Tina Kotek recently ordered the state's Department of Driver and Motor Vehicles to suspend automatic registration after state officials discovered that more than 1,500 people had not been properly registered to vote.

Horvick said the decline in party membership may be due to people dying or leaving the state rather than distrust of the two major parties.

Since August, when President Joe Biden abandoned his re-election bid and Vice President Kamala Harris launched her campaign, Democrats in Oregon have gained over 19,000 registered voters while Republicans have gained about 9,400.

“That’s not a lot of people in the context of 3 million registered voters,” he said. “But you know, if you're looking for signals, this is a signal. Maybe a weak one, but it’s there.”

Horvick noted that both parties tend to have similar turnout rates in general elections and that turnout can be particularly crucial in closely contested congressional elections.

“If you're Janelle Bynum or Andrea Salinas, you're not going to say you're glad Joe's out, but you're glad Joe's out and that there's someone the Democrats are excited about, because that's who really hard-fought races,” he said.

Oregonians have until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday to register and receive a mail-in ballot. Ballots must be postmarked or returned in person by November 5th at 8:00 p.m.

Individuals not registered in Oregon must have a state driver's license or ID card. They can register on the Oregon Secretary of State website, where they can check their registration status and update their address. If the address is not current or undeliverable, the ballot will be returned and the voter will be listed as inactive.

Ballots will be sent out later this week. Scott is urging Oregonians not to wait to return their ballots.

“If we can get their registration or their ballot back sooner, that will help us and the public at the same time,” he said. “We have the ability to process these registrations and ballots over time and release the results quickly. Just don't wait. Do it now.”

Copyright 2024 OPB.

This story comes from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.