Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read joined Coos County Clerk Julie Brecke at a town hall meeting in North Bend Thursday, where they urged voters to use ballot drop boxes for the November election and announced a new drop box expected to open in Charleston in October.
The League of Women Voters hosted the meeting at the North Bend Community Center to answer questions ahead of the midterm general election.
Brecke, who is running unopposed to keep her position, said her role is strictly non-partisan.
"I'm here to uphold the law and not share my opinion on what the laws should or shouldn't be," Brecke said. "We represent all voters."
A record number of ballots were rejected in Oregon's May primary for late postmarks. Postal Service changes mean mail from most of the state now goes to Portland to be postmarked, which can add a day or more.
Read told the crowd that using a drop box avoids that delay.
"If a drop box is convenient for you, that's the best option because it can go directly to Julie and her team," Read said. "It doesn't have to go to Portland for processing and postmarking and coming back."
Read said voters who mail their ballot should send it at least a week before Election Day.
"These days, all of the mail, if it's not right inside Portland, has to go to Portland for processing and postmarking," he said. "We don't want anyone to be caught in that."
Voters mailing a ballot less than a week before Election Day should go into the post office and ask for a hand postmark, Read said.
"That reduces the risk of it not being counted," he said.
Both speakers also warned the crowd not to be intimidated by anyone stationed near a ballot drop box. Read said federal law bars anyone from impeding or intimidating a voter, and that Oregonians who see something they don't like at a drop box should use a different one and report it to their county clerk or the Secretary of State's office.
"We have tools, and we will make sure that people have the ability to vote without intimidation," Read said. "That's our obligation."
New drop box coming to Charleston
Coos County plans to install a ballot drop box in Charleston, Brecke announced at the town hall.
State money will pay for the new box. Brecke said the county learned of the funding only within the past week.
"We're trying to get it here in time for the midterm election," Brecke said. "If not, it will be in for future elections, and we will have a temporary ballot box location in Charleston either way."
Brecke urged rural voters to plan ahead and vote early. Ballots go out in the mail Oct. 14 and should arrive within about a week.
"If it's been seven days and you haven't received them, reach out to our office," she said. "As soon as you get it, open up that voter's pamphlet, make a plan, and get that ballot voted and back in either a ballot box or the mailbox just as soon as you can."
The new drop box would be the county's eighth and is planned for the Charleston Sanitation District office at the boat basin.
Coos County's other drop boxes are located at:
- Bandon Library
- Coos Bay City Hall
- Coquille Courthouse
- Lakeside City Hall
- Myrtle Point City Hall
- North Bend Library
- Powers City Hall
