Spring elections in odd years tend to attract fewer voters than the even-year elections and certainly far less than November elections like last fall's. The questions facing voters are far more local — such as races for local school board and local property tax measures, like bonds and levies.
Related: Some Marion County Voters Receive Empty Ballot Envelopes
This cycle, voter ballot returns appear stronger in Oregon counties with big dollar items on the ballot than in other counties. It makes sense. If the results of an election are going to hit a voter's bottom line, that ballot envelope may seem a lot more important. Elections officials say they often see higher turnout when school districts or other taxing authorities put money measures on the ballot.
Multnomah and Deschutes counties are approaching 10 percent turnout with still more than a week to go until the May 16 election.
Many Multnomah County voters have the largest school bond in state history on their ballots —$790 million for Portland Public Schools. Elections officials say 9.4 percent turnout by mid-Monday, May 8, was slightly ahead of returns two years ago.
About three-quarters of Deschutes County voters are inside the Bend-La Pine School District, where there's a $268 million dollar bond on the ballot. The Deschutes elections office says turnout is slightly lower than the last time the Bend schools floated a bond four years ago. But the voter rolls in the rapidly-growing central Oregon county have grown by 30 percent since then — from 96,000 voters to about 125,000. The registration figures are also boosted by recent changes to Oregon's Motor Voter law.
Those turnout numbers are outpacing Clackamas and Washington counties, for instance, where fewer tax dollars are at stake for most voters. The Clackamas County elections website was reporting a 6.9 percent turnout rate. Lake Oswego has a school bond on the ballot but much of the county is not affected by that.
Washington County is reporting a 6.75 percent turnout rate, and like Clackamas County, there are not the high-priced, high-profile school bonds on the ballot driving high turnout.
Some counties are seeing a little higher turnout in spite of having few big tax measures on the ballots. Lane County has hit 8.5 percent turnout. Voters have a countywide renewal of a tax levy for jails on the ballot, but there are not big school bonds like those Multnomah and Deschutes counties have.
Ballots have to be received by the local county elections office by May 16. Multnomah County officials say the last day to safely mail ballots is Thursday. After that, it's necessary to hand off ballots at official drop sites.