Turnout Appears Low Ahead of November Election

High-profile elections are appearing on ballots across the U.S. this November, but just one measure is being weighed by most Portland voters: a proposal to increase a five-year property tax levy to fund parks from 80 cents to $1.40 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Tim Scott, the elections director for Multnomah County, says the single-issue ballot doesn’t appear to be bringing in many voters. The county reported 102,038 total ballots received through Monday so far, a 21.99% turnout.

That’s a low figure that Scott doesn’t anticipate will increase by much—and he’s not expecting that it will hit the county’s optimistic projection of 35% turnout for the election. While more people tend to drop off ballots in the days before the election, Scott says the big spike doesn’t seem to be coming.

“It doesn’t seem like that’s going to be the case because we sent our drivers out to the ballot boxes this morning and there wasn’t a whole lot more there this Monday than there was last Monday,” he says.

What that means for the Parks Levy depends on who turns in their mail ballots. Polling indicates three-quarters of the city’s voters oppose any cuts to Portland Parks & Recreation, more than any other service. But the bureau has faced challenges on the campaign trail, including a damning city audit that found that instead of addressing an $800 million maintenance backlog, it had rapidly expanded by building new facilities. Concerns about the bureau’s fiscal management have led to some opposition, including from The Oregonian’s editorial board and City Councilor Dan Ryan. (You can read WW’s endorsement of the levy here.)

A small sliver of Multnomah County voters have ballots for a Lake Oswego School District bond measure. There are no overlapping voters between the Parks Levy and the school district bond.

Scott recommends last-minute voters use the drop-off boxes around the county to ensure a safe and timely delivery of their ballots. If the U.S. Postal Service is the better option, he recommends stopping by a physical post office location to get a postmark on or ahead of Election Day. “What we’ve heard from the post office is that they will eventually get that postmark, but what we’re being told is to not count on that postmark being on the day it was first in their possession,” he says.

“Democracy works better when more people are engaged,” Scott says. “I hope people do decide they want to get out and vote.”