Tigard-area voters have until Tuesday, Oct. 13, to register or update their registration for the Nov. 3 general election.
Elections officials in Washington County and four other Oregon counties issued a joint statement Tuesday, Sept. 15, urging residents to check their registration at oregonvotes.gov. The announcement landed on National Voter Registration Day, a nonpartisan effort to encourage eligible citizens to register and plan to vote.
The online registration deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13. County elections offices will begin mailing ballots the next day, Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Voters who have not received a ballot by Oct. 22 should contact the Washington County Elections Division.
The division manages registration records for more than 400,000 voters across the county, which includes Tigard, Tualatin, Durham and Bull Mountain.
May primary postal delays prompt drop-box push
The push comes after postal delays during Oregon's May 2026 primary left thousands of ballots uncounted.
More than 7,300 ballots that arrived during the primary's grace period were rejected for carrying a postmark after Election Day, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported Sept. 8.
The 13.1% rejection rate was higher than any prior Oregon election.
Read called the numbers unacceptable.
"More Oregonians had their voices go unheard just because their ballots couldn't make it through the mail in time," Secretary of State Tobias Read said at a Sept. 8 press conference in Salem.
He is seeking $1.25 million in emergency funding to add 20 drop boxes statewide and expand ballot tracking.
State and county officials are now urging voters to return ballots at Official Ballot Drop Sites rather than through the U.S. Postal Service. Voters can find the nearest drop site at oregonvotes.gov.
Three steps to get ready
The joint statement from elections officials in Clackamas, Marion, Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill counties outlined three steps for voters:
- Check or update registration at oregonvotes.gov. Voters should update their record after a move, a name change or a change in party affiliation.
- Sign up for ballot tracking at ballottrax.net/voter. The free service sends text, phone or email alerts when a ballot has been mailed, received and accepted for counting.
- Make a plan to vote. Officials recommend returning ballots to a drop site as soon as possible. Voters who choose to mail a ballot should do so at least a week before Election Day.
Ballots must carry a valid postmark on or before Nov. 3 or be returned to a drop site by 8 p.m. that day. The Washington County elections office will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Absentee ballots and what's next
Voters who will be away from home during the voting period can request an absentee ballot starting Monday, Sept. 21. Absentee ballots can be mailed to a temporary address or picked up at the county elections office.
Eric Olson, Washington County's director of assessment, taxation, records and elections, oversees the division handling the Nov. 3 election. The Elections Division is open for questions through the county website.
