May 2017 Special District Election Assistance Available, County Officials say

MULTNOMAH COUNTY, OR – With the deadline to register for the May election fast approaching, Multnomah County officials are reminding county voters the elections office can assist anyone who has special needs related to a disability or language barrier.

Residents have until April 25 to register for the Special District Election scheduled for May 16. Voters can register online or with a registration form available at local public libraries, any Oregon DMV or post office, and the elections office at 1040 S.E. Morrison St. in Portland.

Voter registration forms are available in Spanish and English. At this time ballots are only available in English but, according to according to county Director of Elections Tim Scott, voters are always allowed to ask a friend or family member for assistance reading, understanding, and filling out their ballots. However, they cannot legally seek help from employers or union representatives.

To bridge the gap for voters who may not have a close friend or relative nearby, the elections office provides various forms of assistance at no charge.

"We want to empower people to be able to vote, and there's no catch," Scott told Patch Monday. "We want to make sure everyone understands what (services) we have available and what we're able to do for them."

Basic voting information provided online, for example, is translated into nine languages, and voter pamphlets provide the same information in five languages. The candidate statements and measure arguments are not translated, Scott said.

If a voter preferred to call the elections office, language translations are provided by staff and with assistance from the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization in Portland.

For the November 2016 presidential election, 89 requests for translation were made. Of those, 67 percent were for Spanish assistance.

The elections office typically serves more than 200 people during large turnout elections, Scott said, but special elections like the one next month often only see between 20 percent and 40 percent of voters submit ballots.

Just under 80 percent of voters registered in Multnomah County participated in the past November election, Scott said. But attention to local, regional, and national politics has seemingly grown since then. So with the apparent increase in attention given to politics, does that mean more voters will show up for the May special election?

"Hard to say," he said. "What I can tell you is that we see fewer voters for Special District Elections in odd years as compared to the primary or general election in even years."

To bolster the elections office’s efforts to get the word out, Multnomah County's elections staff reach out to various service providers for help in ensuring voters get registered in time to participate in the elections.

A recently established partnership with the state's long-term care ombudsman program is meant to help connect the elections office's services with other programs and agencies serving similar clientele –– such as the county's Aging, Disability and Veterans Services Division, which serves many voters in assisted living facilities.

"We reach out to hundreds of assisted living facilities," Scott said. "There is a wide range of disabilities people experience, and a large number of calls (to the elections office) are related to that."

For more information on what services the elections office can provide to help voters get their ballots squared away, visit https://multco.us/education-and-outreach.

Image via Multnomah County