Oregon Sees 2nd-Lowest Primary Vote Turnout Ever By Percentage

SALEM, OR — It's a good news, bad news scenario, depending on how you look at the voter turnout numbers released by the Oregon secretary of state's office.

On one hand, 1,039,342 people cast votes in Tuesday's primary election, the fourth-largest turnout since 1960.

On the other hand, only 35.25 percent of the state's registered voters cast ballots, the second-lowest over the same period.

Only the 33.91 percent turnout in 2018 was lower.

In the tri-county area, the results mirrored those statewide.

In Clackamas County, 90,510 people voted, the fourth-highest number in any county. As a percentage of registered voters, only 29 percent of registered Clackamas voters returned a ballot, the second-lowest percentage of any county in the state.

Multnomah County saw 201,002 people cast ballots, the highest number in the state. Yet that only amounted to 36.05 percent of registered voters. Twenty-three of Oregon's 36 counties had a higher percentage turnout.

Washington County's 128,788 votes cast was second only to Multnomah's. Its 33.62 percent voter turnout, though, was the seventh-lowest of any county in the state.

The only county in the state to have greater than 50 percent turnout was Grant County, with 51.51 percent. The lowest percentage turnout was in Umatilla County where only 25.86 percent of registered voters cast ballots.