Lane County Elections urges voters to fix signature discrepancies

The Lane County Elections Office continues to process ballots received for the November 3^rd General Election.

As of Monday morning, there are a total of 3,068 ballots countywide that have not yet been counted, not including those that will be received from USPS today and tomorrow and postmarked by November 3.

Of those 3,068 ballots, 235 are missing signatures and 1,571 have signatures that do not match the voters' records. Another 1,262 ballots must be hand-processed due to a combination of damaged (torn, dirty, water damage, etc.) ballots unreadable with Elections Office equipment, and those requiring additional processing and resolution.

Each voter with a missing or mismatched signature receives a letter from the Lane County Elections Office with instructions for "curing" their ballot by providing evidence that it was the eligible voter who returned the ballot. Voters must cure their ballots by the end of the work day on Tuesday, November 24, or their ballots cannot be counted.

"Curing ballots is a critical part of the election process and ideally every voter with a missing or challenged signature would take the time to cure their ballot," said Lane County Clerk Tommy Gong. "Unfortunately, many voters choose not to respond to the notifications they receive. During our last general election, only 30 percent of missing or mismatched signatures were cured."

Voters who forgot to sign their ballot return envelope receive this letter. Voters whose signatures did not match their voter record receive this letter.

The next election results update is planned by the end of the day on Tuesday, November 10.

"We truly appreciate the public's patience as we do our due diligence to ensure the integrity of the election," said Gong.

More information about ballot processing and election security is available at www.LaneCountyOR.gov/ElectionSecurity.

About the Lane County Elections Office:

The Elections Office, located at 275 W. 10^th Avenue in Eugene, is responsible for conducting elections in Lane County. The Elections Office manages voter registration, the processing of mail ballots, recruitment and training of election workers, and certification of elections.