Lane County mails out 282,142 election ballots

It’s two weeks to election day, with the ballot return dashboard going live Oct. 25. With an update from the Lane County Elections Office:

Steve Mokrohisky (Lane County administrator): I’m happy to give the board a couple updates here on elections. It is E minus 14 to the general election—14 days from today.

And a total of 282,142 active voters have been mailed ballots for the upcoming general election. I received my ballot yesterday. If you have not received your ballot by this Thursday (Oct. 24, 2024), please visit our elections website or contact our office for a replacement ballot.

[00:00:40] So hopefully here, you’ve already received your ballot in the mail, if you’re a Lane County registered voter, or you will receive it in the next day or two.

[00:00:48] Ballot return dashboard launch: The ballot returns dashboard goes live this Friday. This is a dashboard that just updates on key metrics related to the election, and we update that on a regular basis so folks can track all the data.

[00:01:05] So that will go live on Friday. While you’re waiting, please feel free to explore current voter registration numbers and access dashboards from previous elections at a link that we have provided online. Of course, you can go to LaneCountyOR.gov/Elections and find all of this information.

[00:01:22] Our livestream is now active, so you can stay updated on the tentative ballot processing schedule and observe the process from the comfort of your home. Again, you can watch that by going to LaneCountyOR.gov/Elections.

[00:01:38] And our public logic and accuracy tests begin this Thursday at 10 a.m. It’s the first of two public logic and accuracy tests. Again, tune into the livestream and you can observe that process firsthand. It’s riveting stuff, I promise.

[00:01:53] The Dropbox Video Surveillance Project: Want to provide an update on this. In late 2023, Lane County Clerk initiated a video surveillance project for dropboxes in collaboration with Lane County Technology Services.

[00:02:06] This project has assessed the current placement and adequacy of dropboxes and made any adjustments or recommendations as needed. Six smaller outdated boxes will be replaced with larger ones, and new agreements will be established for host locations. On some of those cases, we have drop boxes in locations that are not county owned property. And so we work with that property owner.

[00:02:32] Currently, the costs are undetermined as they depend on the host location’s infrastructure. We believe it’s about $40,000 to install four dropbox cameras with an annual license fee of under $150 per camera. So the cameras are also an important part of this work in making sure that we have video surveillance and security there.

[00:02:53] John Q: That’s Lane County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky with the latest election update. Ballots were mailed on the 17th, so if you’re registered to vote and haven’t received your ballot by Thursday the 24th, please contact Lane County Elections.

[00:03:07] To learn how ballots are processed, see Dena Dawson’s videos on the county website, then watch live coverage as Lane County Elections runs a live test at 10 a.m. Thursday to prepare for the Nov. 5 election.