About 12% of Oregon voters have cast ballots week ahead of primary election
Oregon election officials have received 357,000 ballots as of Tuesday, about 12% of the 3.1 million sent to registered voters across the state ahead of the May 19 primary.
That’s a third of the overall voter turnout during the 2024 primary, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Elections Division, though voters still have a week to get their ballots in, ideally via ballot boxes with just seven days left to vote.
Voter turnout so far is on track with previous years, according to John Horvick, senior vice president and elections expert at Portland-based DHM Research. The average voter turnout was about 11% one week before primary elections from 2002 to 2022, he said.
Voter turnout in the primary will play a key role for several races, particularly for the 14 Republican candidates vying for their party’s nomination to run for governor in November. The primary will also determine whether new party challengers will beat out incumbent Democratic lawmakers and Republican state lawmakers, and in Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District, it’ll determine which of six Democrats will very likely challenge U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, an Ontario Republican, in November.
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/05/13/about-12-of-oregon-voters-have-cast-ballots-week-ahead-of-primary-election/