Some 57.5% of Jackson County voters had cast ballots as of a report pulled at 12:46 p.m. Monday

Rogue Valley Times staff report

One day before the Nov. 5 general election, more than half of Jackson County’s 164,463 eligible voters had returned their ballots — and counting.

Some 57.5% of Jackson County voters had cast ballots as of a report pulled at 12:46 p.m. Monday, according to Chris Walker, the county clerk. She said in an email that the county elections office is “really busy today” and anticipated that the number would grow by the end of the business day.

The number was already up 5 percent from the 52.6% Jackson County had in a report issued at 10:06 a.m. Monday by the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.

That morning Jackson County number is up 31,609 ballots from the 54,860 that had been collected as of Tuesday, Oct. 29, according to the numbers and an earlier news report. The latest state report shows that 9,588 ballots were collected on Friday, Nov. 1, alone, but the most ballots collected thus far was on Oct. 28 with 15,298. 

Jackson County’s participation rate is beating statewide numbers, which show that 46.6% of Oregon’s 3,075,618 registered voters had returned their mail-in ballot ahead of the Tuesday election.

Of the 43,663 registered Democrats in Jackson County, 65.4% had returned their ballots as of Monday. Across the state, 56.1% of Oregon’s 1,017,585 Democrat voters had returned ballots. 

Of the 50,304 registered Republicans in Jackson County, 66.3% had returned their ballots. Statewide, 60.6% of Oregon’s 742,750 Republicans had submitted ballots.

And of the 58,198 non-affiliated voters in Jackson County, 31.12% had returned their ballots. Across Oregon, 28.4% of the 1,102,516 non-affiliated voters had submitted ballots.

Under Oregon law, mailed ballots with a Nov. 5 or earlier postmarked will be accepted until Nov. 12.

The following official ballot boxes will be open through Monday night and until 8 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 5.

• Jackson County Elections Office, 1101 W. Main St. in Medford
• Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave.
• Ashland library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd.
• Central Point library, 116 S. Third St.
• Eagle Point library, 239 W. Main St.
• Phoenix library, 510 W. First St.
• Rogue River library, 412 E. Main St.

The Jackson County Elections Office main lobby is regularly open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Election night extended hours will be 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

For more information, call the elections office at 541-774-6148, email [email protected] or visit jacksoncountyor.gov/departments/elections/.

This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.