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WW’s special-election endorsements arrived in blue boxes across the city this morning. Typically, they’re timed to hit the same day that Multnomah County ballots are mailed to voters.
Not this year. As WW first reported on Monday, the county misprinted some 560,000 ballots, and must print them again at a cost of roughly $300,000. Along with the expense, that means delays in mailing the ballots to voters.
So when can you expect to see a ballot in your mailbox?
It might be another week. County officials announced today that all ballots will be mailed on or before the statutory deadline of next Tuesday, May 2. That means most voters will receive a ballot by next Thursday, May 4.
“Voters will still have at least two weeks to make decisions and return their ballots in time for the May 16 deadline to drop off or postmark ballots,” wrote county spokeswoman Jessica Morkert-Shibley today in a statement. “We sincerely regret the error and inconvenience to voters.”
The error in question was the inclusion of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners District 3 contest on all ballots—not just those mailed to voters who live in the district, which spans the eastside of Portland from 33rd and 148th avenues south of Interstate 84.
Morkert-Shibley says voters who already received an incorrect ballot can use it—they just shouldn’t vote in a race where they don’t live. (The county won’t tally those votes.)
It’s an expensive and time-consuming snafu for county officials, and it’s unclear what effect it will have on voter turnout in an election that’s already obscure.