Lane County: 40% of ballots arrived in final 2 days

Presenter: Seven days after Election Day, an update from the Lane County administrator. On Nov. 12:

Steve Mokrohisky (Lane County administrator): I wanted to provide you an update on E+7.

So a recap: By the end of last week, a total of 212,527 ballots have been returned. That is approximately 76% turnout of registered voters in Lane County. Approximately 85,000 ballots were received on Monday and Tuesday alone of last week, making up around 40% of the total ballot. So 40% of the total ballots received on Election Day and the day before.

[00:00:36] We get a lot of questions. I actually had a friend of mine that I had some time with this weekend, who is an active businessperson involved in local and state issues and asked me the question: Why does it take 20, sometimes 20 plus days for us to count the vote here in Oregon and in lane County? And so this is a common question that we receive from folks.

[00:00:55] And important to note that we have 21 ballot dropbox sites. All the pickup pickups at the 21 dropbox sites were successfully conducted without issue or incident. I can tell you personally I was there holding the door for the drivers that were bringing ballots back all the ballots are secured. They’re received by at no less than two individuals that are with different party affiliation that drive together to the 21 dropbox sites collect the ballots, secure them in a box, bring them then directly back to elections and right into the elections office via secured entrance.

[00:01:33] So there were no issues or incidents in that ballot pickup process. We’re grateful for the support the elections team has received and would like to give special thanks to the Board of Commissioners, to the Sheriff’s Office, Eugene Police Department, and other local law enforcement, the dozens of extra help staff and Lane County employees that helped ensure that the election was safe, fair, accessible, secure, transparent, equitable, and reliable.

[00:01:59] So to the point of why does it take sometimes 20 plus days here in Lane County and in Oregon, state law allows for ballots that are delivered to the mail and postmarked on the day of election, Nov. 5. That elections office has to wait seven days for any mail to arrive, so that seven days ends today (Nov. 12), and if it’s postmarked, if ballots are postmarked and all the other signatures and everything are in line postmarked by Nov. 5, then they can be counted.

[00:02:38] It’s also important to note that there are 3,125 challenge ballots. Of these 347 ballots had a missing signature and 2,778 ballots had signature discrepancies—so the signature on the envelope didn’t match the original signature. To resolve or what we call cure any challenge, a ballot challenge, a signature discrepancy or a ballot that simply wasn’t signed, the voter must provide sufficient evidence that they returned their ballot and/or signed the envelope.

[00:03:18] I think I shared with commissioners when I was in Cottage Grove I got a question. We got a call in from an individual who said, ‘You know, I have some nerve damage in my hand and my signature is actually different now than it was when I originally submitted it.’ And so we have a process that typically requires an individual to come in person or they can have an affidavit that can be signed in those incidences.

[00:03:40] So voters will receive a letter with instructions to cure the challenge, and the deadline for that cure is Nov. 26. Again, important to note that the results, all the results are unofficial until the election is certified on or before Dec. 2.

[00:03:57] So these are various reasons why we allow the amount of time: One state law requires us to wait seven days from the date of the election, which is today to receive any ballots in the mail that were postmarked Nov. 5.

[00:04:12] We also have to allow those challenge ballots and signature discrepancies to individuals the time necessary, which is Nov. 26, to cure those.

[00:04:22] Election results will be posted four more times in the coming weeks by 5 p.m. on the following dates: today Nov. 12; Friday, Nov. 15; Wednesday, Nov. 27; and Monday, Dec. 2.

[00:04:35] Again, election results are unofficial until the election is certified on or before Dec. 2.

[00:04:41] So I’m beating this horse a bit to death, but I just, it’s really important ’cause we get this question all the time, again, from folks who we would consider knowledgeable about elections process. But there’s this question of: Why does it take so long?

[00:04:53] Most of the vast majority of the votes are counted, but we have this process where, because we have a mail-in ballot process and the time necessary for individuals to correct any challenge ballots.

[00:05:05] So please visit the elections website for results, the ballot return dashboards, stats for challenge ballots, and other useful information at LaneCountyOR.gov/elections.

[00:05:15] You can go on the secretary of state’s website to specifically check to see, did my ballot, was my ballot received and verified or there you know other challenge issues there, you can check online for that information.

[00:05:29] Presenter: Election workers were also thanked by the president of the United States. On Nov. 7:

[00:05:35] President Joe Biden: I also hope we can lay the rest of the question about the integrity of the American electoral system. It is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent, and it can be trusted, win or lose. I also hope we can restore the respect for all our election workers who busted their necks and took risks at the outset. We should thank them—thank them for staffing voting sites, counting the votes, protecting the very integrity of the election. Many of them are volunteers who do it simply out of love for their country. And as they did their duty as citizens, I will do my duty as president. I will fulfill my oath, and I will honor the Constitution. On Jan. 20, we’ll have a peaceful transfer of power here in America.

[00:06:34] Presenter: The latest election results from Lane County.