Election update: Ballots in mail, 25 drop boxes open

John Q: This is KEPW Whole Community News for Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. Election ballots are in the mail and many local voters could start receiving them today and tomorrow. Lane County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky:

Steve Mokrohisky (Lane County, administrator): We have 283,321 registered voters in Lane County.

A few important reminders as we get closer to Election Day: Ballots should be arriving in mailboxes between Friday, Oct. 16 and Oct. 22.

Some really exciting news: I had reported previously that we received some funding from the secretary of state’s office to install new ballot boxes.

We weren’t sure if they were going to be installed and open for this election. They will be. The three additional ballot boxes are located at River Road Water and Fire Protection District, the Mapleton Fire Department, and the McKenzie Fire and Rescue District.

So those three new ballot boxes will be open for voters to return their ballots to those ballot boxes.

Also really exciting: You can’t really see, but if you look right through the window over there (pointing), you’ll see a new smart box that is located in the Public Service Building at 125 E. 8th St. that has been installed.

And it’s a pilot program using the next generation of ballot boxes that enhance ballot security and chain of custody.

So that brings the total number of ballot drop boxes to 25 in Lane County. You can visit the Lane County Elections web page for a full list of drop box addresses.

Just a note on the smart drop box: It will actually scan the envelope. And so again, it will help with our chain of custody.

So for commissioners, for county employees, and members of the public who are curious, you can stop down here on the first level of the Public Service Building and see the future of voting in Lane County is here, and really exciting.

So the top three reasons why ballots are challenged: The top three reasons, two of them are related to signatures, and one is it arrived too late.

So first, the voter forgot to sign the envelope. That’s a common mistake. Folks fill out their ballot, put in the envelope, seal it, send it in. But they don’t sign the outside of the ballot. That’s number one.

Two is: They sign the wrong envelope. So if you have multiple voters in your home, right, maybe you sign the wrong one.

And then the third is the ballot arrived too late. We say ‘When the clock strikes 8, it’s too late.’ You can’t put your ballot in the drop box at 8 p.m. They lock at 8 p.m.  You have to get ’em in there before 8 on Election Day.

So, vote your ballot, sign your ballot return envelope, and return it to one of our drop boxes by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3 or at a United States Postal Service seven days before the election, which would be Oct. 27.

Again, we recommend the ballot drop boxes because we pick those up up until 8 p.m. on Election Day.

The Election Office is currently open to provide ballots to voters who will be away during the election. You can visit the elections website for the results posting schedule, the ballot return dashboard, which will be live on Friday, so we will have the dashboard that we do every year is live Friday.

And other useful information is at lanecountyor.gov/elections. So there you go. That’s your elections update.

John Q: Ballots are in the mail and local voters will start receiving them today. Oregon elections officials are encouraging you to vote early and to use ballot drop boxes.

Image courtesy Lane County: County Clerk Tommy Gong delivers the November, 2026 ballots to the U.S. Postal Service.