On Election Day morning, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, voting booths await for residents inside the Umatilla County Courthouse, Pendleton, before the 8 p.m. deadline to cast their votes. 

SALEM — Election Day is here.

Umatilla County has received 38.4% of ballots as of Tuesday morning, Nov. 8, Election Manager Kim Lindell said.

“We just printed it out,” she said. “Returns totaled 18,927.”

In the 2018 mid-term general election, Umatilla County voter turnout was 56.36%, vs. 67.8% for Oregon.

Morrow County Clerk Bobbi Childers said her office has received 43.9% of ballots as of by 9 a.m.

“We have 7,016 eligible voters,” she said, “and have received 3,079.”

About 160 more ballots were in the clerk’s office, but had not yet been scanned at that time.

Oregon’s statewide return rate as of Nov. 7 was 36%, according to the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division.

All cities in Umatilla County have ballot drop box locations except Ukiah. Voting also is possible at county courthouses, but voters should bring the ballots they received in the mail.

“While they can ask for a replacement, we strongly urge in-person voters to bring the ballots which they were mailed and put them in the drop box,” Lindell said.

Childers urged anyone voting in-person in Morrow County to bring their own ballot.

“Our continuous feed printer is down,” she said.

Each county election office should have at least three voting booths, compartments, shelves or privacy tables, where voters may mark their ballot in secrecy. In primary and general elections, counties with more than 35,000 active electors also must have at least one voting booth for each 20,000 electors. Look for county elections office locations at Oregonvotes.gov/counties.

Umatilla County Courthouse, 216 S.E. Fourth St, Pendleton, has seven in-person voting booths. Morrow County Courthouse, 100 S. Court St., Suite 102, Heppner, has two in-person booths.

Each county election office must remain open until 8 p.m. on Election Day to assist voters in obtaining and depositing ballots. Past that time, electors may still vote, but only if at or before 8 p.m. they were present at the elections office or a drop box, in the line identified by county elections staff and waiting to vote.

Voters must be physically present by 8 p.m. in the line county elections officials establish to vote in person. Counties may prioritize serving voters with disabilities, voters with caregiving responsibilities or other voters with legitimate personal factors that may affect their ability to wait.

Polls close at 8 p.m., and election results are available online at county and state websites soon after.

From 8 p.m. to midnight, counties tally votes and report results. Each county has its own reporting schedule, to be linked to the state elections results site, refreshing every 15 minutes.

After election night, counties continue tallying ballots until Nov. 16. Ballots delivered to a county with a postmark of Nov. 8 or earlier are to be on time if they arrive on or before Nov. 15.

The election certification deadline for counties is Dec. 5, and Dec. 15 for state certification.

Due to the postmark law and other factors, the Oregon Elections Division plans not to attempt predicting the percentage of the vote to be reported at any given time.