Oregon election latest: Wheeler County tops returns

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. (AP) – The Latest on Election Day in Oregon:

6:00 p.m.

Oregon’s least populous county has the biggest percentage turnout of voters.

The secretary of state’s office said that as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, 79.5 percent of Wheeler County voters had cast ballots.

The county’s population is around 1,300. Located in the high desert of Central Oregon, the county seat is Fossil.

Statewide, voter turnout by 5 p.m. Tuesday was 57.6 percent with 1,592,223 ballots received

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12:33 p.m.

Democrats have a chance to win one more seat each in the state Senate and House in Tuesday’s election.

If they do that and hang onto existing seats, they’ll reach a three-fifths supermajority in both chambers. That would give them a better shot at increasing corporate taxes in a state where corporations pay one of the lowest rates in the nation.

Currently the Democrats hold a 35 to 25 seat edge in the House and the 17 to 13 advantage in the Senate.

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11:20 a.m.

The ballot box by City Hall in downtown Lake Oswego was busy with a steady stream of voters coming by car and by foot to drop their ballots off. Some took selfies with their ballots before depositing them in the narrow slot.

Volunteer Linda Brown guided voters to the box and said it had been busy since she arrived at 7:30 am. Elections workers had already emptied the ballot box once by 9:30 am, she said.

“The ballot box has been overflowing. Ballots were overflowing. They had to pick them up and it took them quite a while to change it out because it was so full,” Brown said.

“Everybody who pulls away has a big smile on their face. Truly that’s the best part.”

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9:45 a.m.

Officials say half of all registered voters in Oregon still need to return their ballots to a secure drop-off location by the 8 p.m. Election Day voting deadline.

The Oregon Secretary of State’s office reports that 49 percent of the nearly 2.8 million voters have already been returned as of 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Wheeler County in Central Oregon leads in early-bird voters, with 69 percent of ballots already received, while Portland’s Multnomah County barely beat the statewide average with its tally at 51.6 percent.

Oregon is an all vote-by-mail state.

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Oregon voters will be picking a governor Tuesday and deciding the fate of several high-profile measures, including one that would repeal the first-in-the nation immigrant sanctuary law.

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Kate Brown has faced a tough challenge from Republican Rep. Knute Buehler. Public polls show Buehler behind Brown by a slim margin.

Supporters of Measure 105, the sanctuary repeal measure, say the law shields people who have committed crimes from potential deportation. Those who back the sanctuary law say it was passed to address racial profiling.

Other measures include Measure 106, an initiative that would ban state funding for most abortions and Measure 103, which asks people in Oregon will decide whether to amend the state Constitution to ban future taxes on groceries.

Oregon is an all vote-by-mail state. Ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

NewsChannel 21 and KTVZ.COM will have complete election coverage Tuesday night, from the latest results to reaction from candidates, including live reports from the Portland election night event held by Buehler, a Bend state representative.

Local and state election results will show on the bottom of the screen during national election night coverage and we will have several breaks to provide those results as well.