Multnomah County, Ore. (Aug. 30, 2024) — A report released today by the Multnomah County Elections Division identifies root causes — and charts a path for both correcting and avoiding — technical mapping issues that led to nearly 9,500 voters receiving replacement ballots ahead of the May 2024 primary election.
Chair Jessica Vega Pederson called for an after-action analysis of Elections’ districting and ballot procedures after officials learned ballots for 9,300 voters in east Multnomah County omitted a ballot measure from Metro.
Later in May, amid Elections’ initial review, staff found an additional 170 voters in various pockets of the County who received incorrect ballots in the wake of 2022 redistricting changes to special district, County Board of Commissioners and congressional boundaries.
In total, the ballot issues affected less than 2% of the County’s 570,000 registered voters, and Elections promptly mailed replacement ballots to all affected voters before Election Day.
Today’s report — prepared by The Elections Group, a trusted firm providing election consulting expertise — looked into both issues and presented a series of recommendations to help Elections further refine its mapping, data-sharing and districting procedures.
As part of a short-and long-term plan for implementing the review’s recommendations, Elections is adding steps to check the validity and reliability of its source data — reconciling conflicts with land-use data and other data sets — and proofing all November ballots against their district assignments.
Elections has prioritized this work, ensuring all voters can cast ballots in their correct district while preserving public confidence in the November 2024 general election.
The Elections Division has a plan for both short-and long-term implementation of recommendations by the Elections Group, including addressing the validity and reliability of source data and proofing all November ballots against their district assignments.
The full report is linked here:
For more information about the November 2024 general election, visit Multnomah County Elections’ at www.multnomahvotes.gov.