Changes to reporting frequency in one Portland county and the state’s new “postmark rule” could delay Oregon’s tally in key races, including the razor-thin three-way race for governor and the nationally watched Congressional District 5 race between Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner and Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
Clackamas County election Clerk Sherry Hall’s decision to update tallies less frequently than other counties could delay the results for several days.
The county will release preliminary election results around 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, but won’t update tallies again after that until Wednesday at 6 p.m.
The schedule departs from that of other counties, which release updated results multiple times on election night and early Wednesday morning.
Nearby Multnomah County will post results on its elections website at 8 p.m. on election night and update its tallies every two hours through 2 a.m. Wednesday before posting additional updates at 6 p.m. each night.
Lane County will follow suit.
Clackamas County Public Information Officer Kimberly Webb explained that the decision is based on the “massive volumes of late voters.”
Oregon voters have been marking their ballots since Oct. 19. But as of Nov. 7, just 36 percent of Clackamas county voters had turned in their ballots in the Democrat-leaning county.
“We have a bit of a traffic jam here,” Webb told The Epoch Times.
“As ballots continue to come in on Election Day, they still have to be processed, signatures have to be checked, all of the security protocols have to be followed,” Webb explained.
According to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, counties can make their own reporting schedules, as long as they comply. Clackamas County does.
Meanwhile, Oregon’s new “postmark rule” could also mean it takes longer statewide to share results, especially in close races.
“The new Oregon law allows mail-in ballots that arrive up to a week after the election to be counted, so long as they are postmarked by Election Day,” Lane County Election Clerk Dena Dawson told The Epoch Times.
That means final results could be delayed by days, especially in close races such as those in Clackamas County as well as that of Republican Mike Erickson and Democrat Andrea Salinas in Oregon’s 6th Congressional District,
The new postmark rule probably won’t make much difference in races with wider margins, but every ballot must be tallied before results can be known, Dawson explained.
“As ballots postmarked on Election Day continue to arrive, all of the security protocols have to be followed,” said Dawson.
The new extended postmark deadline for ballots was used for the first time in the May primary this year. Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagen reports that 5 percent of ballots were cast on Election Day.
Oregon’s Secretary of State will release results tonight at 8 p.m. local time (11 p.m. ET), but will not certify official election results until Dec. 15 after receiving post-election audits from all 36 Oregon counties.
