Portland Voter Turnout Alarmingly Low – BikePortland

The vote for tomorrow’s election in Portland is trending low. Optimists hope it’s because of the delay, but some election observers are alarmed.

Since 2008, an average of 64% of Portland’s registered voters have voted in city council elections. This year, one day before the election, only 19% of Portland voters returned their ballots. As the chart above shows, this is part of the low returns for Multnomah County in general and has not been trending electorally since 2016. Keep in mind that interpreting these graphs is complicated by a few things: 1) the 2022 election, shown with a green line, was not a presidential election – voter turnout is always lower in these off-election cycle years, and 2) Oregon has changed its ballot return rules in 2021 to allow ballots postmarked on the day of the election to be received for up to seven days. The full delay effect of the new postmark rule has not yet been tested in a presidential election year. (High turnout voters in the 2022 off-year largely cast their ballots by Election Day. This may not be true for the larger electorate in a presidential year.)

The yellow bars in the graphic show ballots from Multnomah County that were returned in recent weeks. The last bar, today’s yield, was disappointingly low, below the 2022 election line.

Count former Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz in the concerned camp, as transportation designer Jarret Walker’s re-tweet and comment show.

Multnomah County’s election dashboard (below) tells the larger story. The table below right shows Portland’s election results: 15% for District 1; 19.5% for District 2; 20% for District 3; and 22% for District 4.

Statistics from the North Star Civic Foundation, a Portland nonprofit focused on democracy, show that since 2008, an average of 64% of Portland voters have participated in city council elections.

I don’t think I’ve ever been in a position to hope for a reprieve, but here I am. It would be a shame if Trump took Oregon because voters in Portland didn’t cast their ballots. Vote, people!