High Oregon Voter Turnout With 4 Days Still To Go Before Election
With just four days remaining before Election Day, voter turnout is already high, with over a million ballots already returned across Oregon by Wednesday and almost 40% returned specifically in Southern Oregon.
1/3 of Ballots Already Returned In Oregon
Oregon has over three million registered voters and around 34% of ballots had been returned by Wednesday from across Oregon as county election offices received over 1 million by close of business according to the Oregon Elections Division.
The number is an actual count and does not take into account any ballots not yet counted in counties where there have been slight backlogs. Of the totals, only 19% of unaffiliated voters had returned their ballots by Wednesday.
By comparison, at the same point in November 2016 around 38% of registered voters in Oregon had returned their ballots and in 2020 Democratic voters contributed to the number climbing to 58%. The Secretary of State’s office confirmed that the total turnout in the State after Election Day was 80% in 2016 and 82% in 2020.
The pre-Election Day voting trend has become prevalent nationwide but Oregon has become one of the most closely watched and costliest contests in the race for House representation.
First-term incumbent Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer is standing against Democratic four-term state lawmaker Janelle Bynum and three new Oregon office holders- including the Secretary of State, will be voted for this year. This will affect five statewide ballot measures.
High Voters Turnout In Southern Oregon
While 38% of registered voters in most counties had returned their ballot paper by the end of October, there is a long way still to go.
Almost half or 48.2% of registered voters in Curry County had returned their ballots compared to 38.6% of those in Jackson County. In the counties, the percentage of ballots returned by Wednesday were:
- Curry County: 48.2%
- Jackson County: 38.6%
- Josephine County: 40.7%
- Klamath County: 39.5%
- Lake County: 44%
Election day is on Tuesday, November 5, just four days away.