Lane County urges voters to return primary ballots early before May 19 deadline

Lane County election officials are warning voters not to hold onto primary ballots until the final hour. Ballots for the May 19 primary must be returned by 8 p.m. that night, and county officials say the safest route is to get them back early, especially if mailing is the plan.

Lane County says voters have three ways to return a ballot: mail it, use one of the county’s 21 ballot drop boxes, or hand-deliver it to the Lane County Elections Office during business hours. The county’s last day to mail ballots is May 14, and Oregon election officials say mailed ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days. The United States Postal Service recommends mailing ballots seven days before the election, which makes late-week mailing a gamble.

The county is leaning hard on drop boxes for a reason. They are open 24/7 until 8 p.m. on Election Night, and Lane County says they save postage costs while giving voters a direct, official return method. The Lane County Elections Office will also be open on Election Day until the same 8 p.m. deadline, and the Oregon Secretary of State says county elections offices are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. that day.

The voter registration deadline for the May 19 primary passed on April 28, but county officials are still focused on making sure already-registered voters understand the return rules. Lane County elections workers, trained by both the Oregon Secretary of State’s office and Lane County Elections, review signatures on return envelopes against the most recent signature on file. If a signature is missing or does not match, voters get a notice and have until the 21st day after the election to fix the problem. Lane County also offers a signature attestation form for voters who do not sign consistently.

County Clerk Tommy Gong said Oregon’s vote-by-mail system was built to make voting easier, but convenience does not erase the deadline. The county’s election calendar sets June 9 as the last day to resolve ballot challenges and June 15 as certification day.

Oregon has lived with vote by mail for decades. The state became the first in the country to conduct a statewide election totally by mail in January 1996, and Lane County now sits inside that long-running system. The mechanics are simple; the deadline is not.