The County received a single-day-record of 132,436 ballots on Election Day alone — including ballots returned by mail and placed into drop boxes, all accompanied by long lines of in-person voters at both of Multnomah County’s voter service locations.
With more than 305,000 ballots counted as of late Wednesday afternoon, an additional 115,181 ballots received by the Elections Division have yet to be counted and reported, according to Elections Director Tim Scott.
“We had a rush of voters cast their ballots on Election Day,” Scott said. “Our staff helped ensure everyone in line as of 8 p.m. received the assistance they were seeking and their votes count.”
“Voting on Election Day is not a problem. It’s a feature,’’ Scott added. “People can vote whenever they want to. If they vote later, in high numbers, it just means we'll have to wait longer for definitive results. Our staff are working as quickly and efficiently as possible to accurately count ballots. And, as always, any results we share are preliminary until certification occurs on Dec. 2, 2024.”
Even with that late surge, turnout for the 2024 general election will still fall short of the historic 80% rate voters achieved in the past four presidential elections.
Successfully conducting historic first ranked-choice election
Tuesday’s election was historic for another reason: It was the first to feature ranked-choice voting for City of Portland candidate contests, following charter changes approved by voters in 2022. Voters approved a similar change for Multnomah County, starting in 2026.
Ranked-choice results are available at rcvresults.multco.us. Results will be released daily, no later than 6 p.m., until all ballots are received and counted. Wednesday’s updated results are available now at the ranked-choice-voting results page.
(Click here for a guide on how ranked-choice ballots are counted.)
Non-ranked-choice results, available here, will be updated more frequently.
Because a substantial number of ballots arrived on Election Day, it may take longer than in certain past elections for the community to see definitive results.
More ballots still arriving by mail
This is also the second major election cycle in Multnomah County and statewide, alongside 2022, in which ballots postmarked on or before Election Day will also be counted.
While many voters continue to use Official Ballot Drop Sites, a state law passed in 2021 provides more flexibility to voters who need to mail their ballots on Election Day, provided that those ballots are postmarked on Election Day and arrive at a county elections office within seven days.
On the morning of Nov. 6, the Elections Division received an additional 2,000 ballots from the U.S. Postal Service postmarked before or on Nov. 5. Thousands of mail ballots arrived on Election Day, thanks to sped-up processing by the Postal Service. More ballots will arrive over the next week.
Because of the postmark law, the number of days allotted to county elections offices to certify elections has increased to 27 days, up from 20. That means results from this election will have a Dec. 2 certification deadline.
Mailed ballots, cast on time on or before Election Day, can still arrive up to seven days after Election Day.
Honoring Election Hero Day and celebrating elections workers
The Elections Division can employ up to 200 on-call election workers who join permanent staff to help conduct elections.
Each sworn election worker serves a valuable role in ensuring accurate, accessible and secure elections for Multnomah County voters. Election workers’ roles include collecting ballots at drop sites, running ballots through high-speed sorters, opening ballot envelopes, providing direct voter services in Portland and Gresham, answering thousands of phone calls, and countless other duties in between. We thank them for their service.
The County Board of Commissioners declared Monday, Nov. 4 — the day before Election Day — as Election Hero Day, honoring those workers. Learn more about their contributions here.
Vote by Mail’s pillars – accurate, secure, convenient elections – remain steadfast
For over two decades, Vote by Mail has been reliable, convenient and secure — before, during and after each election. And a suite of security procedures and processes remains in place to keep it so.
Unique identifiers are on every ballot return envelope, and only one ballot for each voter can be counted.
The paper ballot system offers:
- Inherent security that is bolstered by ballot-counting systems that are never connected to the Internet.
- A paper trail from the casting and counting of ballots to election certification.
- A Track Your Ballot service that voters can use to watch their ballot move through the acceptance process. More than 30% of eligible voters have signed up for this service. Track Your Ballot is available in multiple languages. Voters can sign up before the next election at multnomah.ballottrax.net.
Finally, after every election, the system is audited by hand, using randomly selected batches and contests. Machine vote counts are compared to hand vote counts. This step also includes opportunities to observe these processes unfold and to ensure transparency and confidence in the election results.
Watch more on the Election Process here.
Local Elections Count!
Local elections are important and count tremendously in the decision- making that shapes the future of our communities. Thank you to the thousands of voters in Multnomah County who participated and made sure their voices were heard.
Final Official Election Results available by Dec. 2, 2024
Final official election results will be certified and submitted to districts by Dec. 2, 2024. The next scheduled election in Multnomah County is the May 2025 special district election.
Main office:
Multnomah County Duniway-Lovejoy Elections Building
1040 S.E. Morrison St., Portland. OR 97214
Gresham location:
Closed until spring 2025 for the next special district election!
Voting Center Express at the Multnomah County East Building
600 N.E. 8th St., Gresham, OR 97030
Phone: 503-988-VOTE (8683)
Email: elections@multco.us
Website: MultnomahVotes.gov
