Welcome to the Multnomah County Elections Division.
The mission of the Elections Division is to uphold a reputation for transparent, accurate, accessible and accountable elections in Multnomah County.
Multnomah County Elections conducts all local, city, county, state and federal elections for Multnomah County residents. Local elections include boards of directors for schools and special districts as well as local measures. City elections include those for city offices as well as annexations and other city issues. County elections are for county officers and county measures. State elections include Oregon House and Senate races as well as state-wide offices and state measures. Federal elections include Congressional, US Senate and Presidential races.
Conducting elections involves: registering voters; maintaining the voter data base; maintaining address and district data; checking signatures on some petitions; accepting candidate/measure filings; producing voters' pamphlets; issuing and mailing ballots; establishing drop site locations; accepting and processing returned ballots; counting ballots; and releasing results.
There are four scheduled election dates each year in Oregon: the 2nd Tuesday in March; the 3rd Tuesday in May; the 4th Tuesday in August; and the 1st Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The only regularly scheduled elections are the even year May Primary and General Election and the odd year May Special Election. Other special elections can be held in March or August. The state can call for a special election at any time. Recall election dates are based on when the prospective recall petition is filed and the timeline after that initial filing. Recall elections do not follow the same timeline as other elections.
Multnomah County Elections has 15 employees who work for the County Elections Division. For major elections, Multnomah County employs as many as 300 temporary on-call election workers. Each election cycle takes anywhere from three months to eight months from beginning to end. All elections in Oregon are held by mail. There are 558,877 registered voters in Multnomah County (as of June 2023). There are 30 Official Ballot Drop Sites in Multnomah County, one per approximately 18,600 registered voters. Multnomah County uses a digital system to count ballots called Clear Ballot.
Multnomah County is located in the Northwest corner of Oregon, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. Multnomah County is Oregon's smallest and most populous county with over 795,000 residents. Multnomah County is governed by a Board of four elected Commissioners and one Chair. Multnomah County employees provide citizens a wide range of health and human services, public safety services and other government services. The largest city in Multnomah County is Portland, which is where the Duniway-Lovejoy Elections Building is located. A pop up Voting Center Express is open in Gresham in the days before each election.
Opportunities for Observation Observers play an important role in the elections process and provide an objective review of the vote counting process. The public is welcome to observe. For more information about election observation, please contact us.
Information Links
- Oregon Blue Book - Multnomah County
- U.S. Census Bureau Quickfacts - Multnomah County
- Multnomah County website
Contact Information
Address:
Multnomah County Duniway-Lovejoy Elections Building
1040 SE Morrison St. (street view)
Portland, OR 97214
Telephone:
503-988-VOTE (8683)
503-988-3719 fax
Oregon Relay Service: 1-800-735-2900
E-Mail and Web:
elections@multco.us
www.mcelections.org
Open Office Hours:
8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday - Friday
7 a.m. - 8 p.m. on Election Day
Holiday Schedule
Building location and parking
1040 SE Morrison St, Portland OR 97214.
Building entrance on SE 11th. Limited street parking available on SE 11th and SE Morrison. Two accessible parking spaces are available on SE Morrison and one on SE 11th, between SE Morrison and SE Belmont. Please note SE Morrison is now one way westbound. Two hour parking (after 9:00 a.m.) is now available on the north side of Morrison between SE 11th and 10th. There is no parking lot available at the elections office.
