OREGON—With the fifth-highest gas prices in the nation and the least popular governor in the country, Oregonians are generally dissatisfied as they head to the polls.
According to a February poll conducted by DHM Research, only 18 percent of Oregonians think the state is headed in the right direction.
On the issues, Oregon voters are concerned about homelessness (82 percent), violent crime (68 percent), political leadership, forest fires, cost of living (each at 61 percent), illegal immigration (45 percent), voter fraud (41 percent), climate change (39 percent), income inequality (30 percent), and racial inequality (27 percent).
Many rural Oregonians are so disillusioned with the state’s progressive politics that they want to “secede.”
Three of the state’s 36 counties will vote on the question of leaving Oregon to become part of “Greater Idaho.” Eight eastern and southern counties have already voted in favor of the movement.
Thus, the stage is set for the May 17 primary elections.
In Oregon’s closed primaries, only registered Democrats or Republicans may vote for most offices.
Progressive Democrat Gov. Kate Brown can’t run again this year because of term limits. So, for the first time since 2002, there is no incumbent or former governor running for the executive position.
Fourteen Republicans and nine Democrats are on the primary ballot to replace her.
Following the 2020 Census, the state has been awarded a new congressional district for the first time in 42 years.
Nine Democrats are seeking their party’s nomination for that seat. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have endorsed and helped fund two of the candidates for the new 6th Congressional District.
Seven Republicans are looking for their party’s nod.
With the retirement of long-standing Democrat Rep. Peter DeFazio, head of the powerful House Transportation Committee, there’s no incumbent running for the state’s 4th Congressional District (CD4) for the first time in 35 years.
Republican candidate Alek Skarlatos ran unopposed for his party’s nomination for CD4. Six Democrats are seeking their party’s nomination.
But Oregonians could wait for as long as a week after the May 17 primary election to learn the results of close races thanks to the state’s new “postmark rule,” Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said during a May 11 press event.
Adopted in 2021, the new law allows mail-in ballots that arrive at elections offices up to a week after the election to be considered on time—as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.
These aren’t “late” votes, Fagan said.
“Every vote tallied by elections officials will have been cast on time,” she said. “Even if the results come in a little slower, they will be accurate.”
The new law will mean that the total number of votes cast in the election will increase in the days following Election Day, she cautioned.
Oregonians have been casting their ballots exclusively by mail since 1998. Registered voters receive their ballot by mail three weeks before Election Day and drop their secured ballot in an election repository or a USPS box.
So far, primary elections turnout has been surprisingly slow. As of May 13, less than 15 percent of voters had returned their ballots.
That’s down by as much as 67 percent for the same time frame in 2020.
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