Oregonians have until Tuesday, Oct. 13, to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election.
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read recommends registering now and voting early to make sure your ballot counts.
You must be a U.S. citizen, an Oregon resident and at least 16 years old to register to vote. You won’t get a ballot until you’re 18.
You can check your voter registration status at oregonvotes.gov. There, you can also find information on upcoming elections, candidate filings, statewide initiatives and local measures, services for voters with disabilities and more.
Voters in all of Oregon’s 36 counties can now get email, text or phone notifications when their ballot is mailed, received and counted. Up until recently, only five counties offered this service.
If you’re already registered in Oregon, you can update your registration until 8 p.m. on Election Day and still cast a ballot. If your registration is updated close to an election date, your ballot might have to be picked up at your local elections office.
If you’re living at a temporary address — a college student at a dorm for example — you can change your mailing address and your ballot will be delivered there.
Read recommends voting as soon as you’re ready. Follow the instructions on your ballot, sign the return envelope and put it in a drop box if one is convenient for you. The Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division has a ballot drop box tracker on its website. Oregon has 244 ballot drop boxes, 20 more than in the May primary.
Read said the number of important issues on this year’s ballot makes the election especially consequential. He encouraged registered voters to start preparing now.
“You can be perusing your voters’ pamphlet, thinking about your choices. So when your ballot does arrive, you’re ready to go,” he said.
Read pushed back on misinformation about mail-in voting fraud. He said using a ballot drop box means your ballot goes directly to the elections office and you don’t need to worry about a late postmark on your ballot.
“It is perfectly safe to use the mail. If you’re doing that, though, please get the ballot in the mail at least a week ahead of Election Day. So that’s the 27th of October. That gives it time to be postmarked and get to the elections office on time,” he said.
In the May 2026 primary, 7,314 ballots were rejected for late postmarks, 35% more than in the May 2022 primary, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Read said Oregon’s voting safeguards including paper ballots, voting equipment never connected to the internet, signature verification, public testing of equipment and postelection audits. Voters whose envelope signature doesn’t match their registration record have until 21 days after Election Day to fix it.
If you miss the Oct. 13 registration deadline, Read recommends registering anyway so you’re ready for the next election.
