Election day is tomorrow. Turn in ballots before the deadline, Oregon Secretary of State reminds
By Garrett Christensen on Monday, May 18th, 2026 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
EASTERN OREGON – The May primary election is almost here, which means it’s time to turn in ballots for anyone that still hasn’t voted. Like every year, preliminary results will be posted starting at 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time tomorrow, May 19, which means there is still time to drop off ballots. For anyone curious about how their county will collect and count ballots tomorrow, or needing some reassurance about election security, Elkhorn Media Group recently sat down with Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, His deputy Chief of Staff – communications, Tess Seger, and Union County Clerk Lisa Feik to talk about the local voting process.
Within Union County, as well as most Eastern Oregon counties, actual counting won’t begin until Election Day, though ballots are still being collected in preparation for formal processing. As for how things work once the actual counting begins, Feik offered the following walkthrough of the process:
“The mail comes in, or the ballot drop boxes, which our law enforcement picks up and brings to us on scheduled times and days. There are lock boxes within the boxes. The sheriff’s office doesn’t have a key as well. They just take out the box. When it hits my office, my staff opens them, counts them, gets the count, and then they verify signatures.”
It should be noted that the clerk’s office staff also at times pick up ballot lockboxes instead, especially when the sheriff is up for election. Feik continued:
“Those signatures undergo verification when they’re scanned. They have to match the tabulation that we count when we open the boxes. They go into a precinct order, to which every county is a little bit different, but they have multiple checks and balances on what totals are coming in for the day on different things. So, we divide them into precincts before they come to the election board. Those totals have to match the other totals that we did, or we have to stop the processes.
Then the board gets them, they actually count them as well and have slips that go in with the files that come in, and then those file slips have to match what was counted, so there’s a lot of repetition counting.”
The board mentioned by Feik, specifically for Union County, is composed of sixteen people of different political parties, split into tables of four. The board’s job is to review each ballot, and ensure the intent of the voter is accurately reflected. As summarized by Read:
“It’s Four people of differing parties who are all agreeing ‘yes, that voter intended to vote for that candidate.’ And if there is a dispute about that, what happens? It doesn’t go forward. So that’s an important check as well.”
From there, counting continues, with preliminary results posted at around 8:00 p.m. on election night. It should be emphasized that the 8:00 p.m. results, be they posted by the county clerk’s office or the Oregon Secretary of State’s dedicated page are, in fact, preliminary. Both Feik and Read clarified that counting continues after 8:00 p.m. as ballots continue to reach each county clerk’s office, be they late mail-ins, last-minute drop-offs, or simply collected from rural ballot boxes.
In Union County in particular, outlying county ballot boxes typically aren’t even collected until around 8:00 p.m., meaning outcomes can legitimately change in the hours following the preliminary results. Further, a seven-day window is present for mail-in ballots that have been postmarked before the election cutoff. As elaborated by Read:
“Sometimes I get asked ‘why can’t you report results faster?’ At eight o’clock, the count is released as to what you have to that point, but you can imagine all those ballots that were turned in on election day or in the mail. They still count, so what’s released at eight o’clock is accurate up to that point, but there are more ballots that are going to come, so that’s not the final or official count at eight o’clock.”
This delay is exacerbated by the fact that, as of the time of writing, reorganization within the U.S. postal service means that any mail sent further than 50 miles from Portland has to be sent back to Portland for postmarking and processing before reaching its final destination in Oregon. With the election tomorrow, it is recommended that anyone turning in a ballot by this point drop it off at a box or deliver it to the post office front counter for a guaranteed in-person postmarking if choosing to mail it.
This isn’t to dissuade the usage of mail-in voting in general; rather acknowledged the logistical downsides of mail-in voting so close to the deadline. Regarding mail-in security and fraud, Read offered the following thoughts:
“Every piece of this system has been built to combat that. Think about how it works. The system that allows them to register requires them to prove their identity and their citizenship. Only people who are eligible get a ballot, it has a bar code on it. We were just talking today about people who might have chosen while they can to change their party affiliation. If they’d done it then, there was probably a ballot on its way already, but that transaction would’ve invalidated that ballot and triggered the issuance of a second one. So, if someone did try to vote with that first one, it’s not going to be counted.”
Regarding other options for voting, ballot drop boxes are available across Oregon, always at the county clerk’s office, as well as other locations like post offices, and some city halls or other municipal buildings. Drop boxes can be located online by inputting an address at: https://sos.oregon.gov/voting/Pages/drop-box-locator.aspx
It should also be noted that in-person voting booths are still available in Oregon at county clerk’s offices. The exact number will depend on the specific county, but residents are welcome to vote in person before dropping off their ballot. Ballots can be dropped off until 8:00 p.m. on election night.
When filling a ballot, it is also imperative to do so clearly. Ambiguity, even filling the bubbles incorrectly, can lead to delays when counting if intention isn’t clear. Above all, ballots must be signed clearly. The signature used on a ballot will be compared to a resident’s signature on file with the Oregon DMV. Failure to sign or instead using an unrecognized signature will invalidate the ballot. Residents will be notified by the county of any signature issues and have 21 days to correct/confirm their signature before their vote is fully voided.
While the checks and procedures may seem tedious or pointless, especially for seemingly mundane local decisions, all of this is to ensure that elections are secure and to encourage fair voter participation. As explained Read:
“I think everyone matters. These are the places where people’s decisions directly affect lives and what this community is going to look like. It’s easy I think to take this for granted, but a lot of people sacrificed a lot of things for our right to vote, and there are a lot of places in the world that don’t have that.”
Above all, don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or concerns. Though the deadline is almost here, county employees are ready to address concerns and help people feel confident that their vote counts. As Feik put it best, “Don’t listen to Facebook. Call us.”
Again, Oregon drop boxes can be located online at: https://sos.oregon.gov/voting/Pages/drop-box-locator.aspx, while ballots can be filled out in-person at all county clerk’s offices. Information on county clerk offices can also be found at: https://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Pages/countyofficials.aspx
Remember, the deadline for voting is tomorrow, May 19, at 8:00 p.m.
