After a surge of ballots returned last week, this week we saw the number of ballots returned daily in Oregon drop to about the same rate as they were returned in previous years. Still ahead of us, however, are the three days when turnout has historically been the highest: Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. In previous years, around a quarter of all ballots have been received by elections offices on Election Day.
Turnout in Multnomah County reached 60% of all registered voters on Thursday, a mark that wasn’t hit until the day before the election in 2016 and 2012. This is especially notable in the context of the implementation of automatic voter registration in 2016. Since the last presidential election, Multnomah County has added 66,000 voters to the rolls, totaling 570,000 registered voters. From 2015 to 2019, the county only gained 20,000 new residents according to the U.S. Census. Statewide, we’ve gained 400,000 new voters (up to nearly 3 million) with a population increase of only 200,000. Voter rolls have expanded faster than population, so high turnout this year among registered voters is doubly impressive in Oregon.
Washington is also running quite far “ahead of schedule” on ballot returns. The state has already received more ballots than had been received by Election Day in 2016.
In all of these cases, it’ll certainly be interesting to see whether the next few days of ballot returns will be as large as they have been in previous cycles. If so, we could see record voter turnout in the Pacific Northwest for 2020.
After a surge of ballots returned last week, this week we saw the number of ballots returned daily in Oregon drop to about the same rate as they were returned in previous years. Still ahead of us, however, are the three days when turnout has historically been the highest: Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. In previous years, around a quarter of all ballots have been received by elections offices on Election Day.
Turnout in Multnomah County reached 60% of all registered voters on Thursday, a mark that wasn’t hit until the day before the election in 2016 and 2012. This is especially notable in the context of the implementation of automatic voter registration in 2016. Since the last presidential election, Multnomah County has added 66,000 voters to the rolls, totaling 570,000 registered voters. From 2015 to 2019, the county only gained 20,000 new residents according to the U.S. Census. Statewide, we’ve gained 400,000 new voters (up to nearly 3 million) with a population increase of only 200,000. Voter rolls have expanded faster than population, so high turnout this year among registered voters is doubly impressive in Oregon.
Washington is also running quite far “ahead of schedule” on ballot returns. The state has already received more ballots than had been received by Election Day in 2016.
In all of these cases, it’ll certainly be interesting to see whether the next few days of ballot returns will be as large as they have been in previous cycles. If so, we could see record voter turnout in the Pacific Northwest for 2020.