Oregon Mail Ballots Face Strict Checks

Oregon’s mail ballots undergo a multi stage verification process before any votes are counted.

The practice began in 1981 when Del Riley, then Linn County Clerk, proposed mailing real ballots to save printing costs. He ran a test on a school levy that fall and saw turnout exceed 75 percent. That was nearly 20 percentage points higher than the previous year's primary. By 2000, Oregon became the first state to conduct all elections by mail.

Today, more than 3.1 million voters receive ballots in their mailboxes. They can return them via prepaid postage or use roughly 300 dropboxes statewide. Tuesday marked the last recommended day to use the mail. Voters can still drop off ballots by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.

Marcie Richey has served as Linn County Clerk since 1993. Her office is located along Albany’s Willamette River waterfront. She oversees elections for a region known as the Grass Seed Capital of the World. Most registered voters there are nonaffiliated or Republican. Richey stated that she prefers vote by mail over polling place elections. She noted that the mail system produces fewer errors than the previous polling system, which required training inexperienced workers.

Election workers collect ballots from dropboxes and mail twice daily in urban areas and once daily in rural zones. They carry an affidavit proving their identity and the collection date. Dropboxes are chained in place and most contain fire suppression systems. Collection bags are locked to ensure only the assigned worker can open them.

Upon arrival at the county office, staff sort ballots into trays. Each tray is paired with a yellow auditing form. This document tracks the ballot count, missing signatures, and other anomalies. The form remains with the batch until the final tally. Staff then run the trays through a machine that counts the ballots and scans the signature on each blue envelope.

Workers check each signature on a monitor against the voter’s registration record. If a signature does not match, officials review it. If it is rejected, the clerk mails a notice to the voter and requests a new signature. The BallotTrax system also sends alerts for mismatches. Staff identify duplicate ballots during this phase. Richey said this is more common among elderly residents who forget they already submitted a ballot.

An extraction machine separates the ballots from the blue envelopes. Staff hand count the ballots and envelopes separately. One person counts the envelopes while another counts the ballots. They write their counts silently and compare them only after finishing. Once verified, the batches move to a holding room. Tally machines using Clear Ballot software count the votes. These machines and the room are disconnected from the internet. Completed ballots are stored in a vault.

State law requires clerks to wait 90 days after the final contest deadline before destroying ballots. A March executive order from the Trump administration asks states to store ballots for five years. Oregon is a plaintiff in lawsuits challenging this order. Clerks can tally votes before the 8 p.m. deadline on Nov. 3 but cannot publish results until after that time. They store results on a private flash drive to send to the secretary of state.

Security measures include cameras in all ballot areas, thick mesh glass windows, and motion sensors that notify Richey and law enforcement. Custodial staff cannot enter ballot rooms until results are certified. A 2020 study by the state’s Legislative Fiscal Office found 38 criminal convictions among 61 million ballots cast from 2000 to 2019. That is a rate of 0.00006 percent. The Brookings Institution reported about four fraud cases per 10 million mail ballots in recent elections.