Voter turnout so far is lower than 2020, Multnomah and Clark County officials say

One day before election day, workers at elections offices have been busy collecting ballots that are coming in.

40 percent of ballots have been returned in Multnomah County
44 percent of ballots have been returned in Clackamas County
47 percent of ballots have been returned in Washington County
57 percent of ballots have been returned in Clark County

On Monday, there was a long line of people outside the Clark County Elections Office, where people can register to vote as late as election day.

“We’ve never really seen this many people here a day before election on this Monday,” said Greg Kimsey, Clark County auditor.

Still, he said voter turnout one day before the election is lower than it was four years ago. “Same point in time, four years ago, we were right at 70 percent,” he said.

In Multnomah County, elections director Tim Scott also noticed lower turnout.

“Turnout’s been a little lower than it has been in the last two presidential elections so far, but we still anticipate hitting that projected turnout of about 80 percent which means today and tomorrow are going to be very busy for us,” he said.

“The team behind me can process about 90,000 ballots in a day. The challenge is having all those ballots in hand. We have to wait for the voters to return them.”

Some voters in Clark County said they were dropping their ballots off in person at the elections office after the ballot box at Fisher’s Landing was set on fire, burning hundreds of ballots. But Kimsey says after that incident, voters started using the ballots boxes at a higher rate than they’ve seen previously.

“My reaction is that people are going to say that we’re not going to let that kind of action take away our most important constitutional right. We’re not going to let that stand in our way of voting,” he said.

“Thousands and thousands of people are still confidently using our ballot boxes, and they should be confident that their ballot is safe, secure and will get counted,” echoed Scott.

Kimsey also said law enforcement is taking future threats seriously.

“We’ve asked for and indicated from law enforcement significantly increased presence. And we’ve already seen that.”

And while you can still vote by mail as long as your ballot is post marked by November 5th, Scott doesn’t recommend it.

“I would recommend at this point – we have 30 drop sites across the county. Drop it in there. Our drivers will be around multiple times today and many times tomorrow,” he said.

https://katu.com/news/local/voter-turnout-so-far-is-lower-than-2020-multnomah-and-clark-county-officials-say

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Author: KATU News
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News post in at: November 6, 2024, 3:02 am.

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