Ballots set to be mailed to overseas Oregonians this week
Two unopened Washington County ballots for Oregon’s 2026 primary election sit on a table, Monday, May 11, 2026.
Meagan Cuthill / OPB
The midterm elections are less than two months away. Ballots will be mailed to Oregonians living and working overseas, including military service members, on Friday.
Those include active members of the Uniformed Services, the Merchant Marine, and the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to the Oregon Secretary of State. It also includes their family members and U.S. citizens residing outside the United States.
The ballots are set to be delivered despite uncertainty around mail-in voting throughout the country.
The Trump administration is still seeking to restrict mail-in voting, despite court orders that have frozen the federal government’s new rules. Some states have already mailed out ballots.
Elections officials in states like Oregon, which has used mail-in voting for decades, have said that implementing the new rules would be difficult — if not impossible — by the midterm election.
For now, the election is moving forward as planned as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether the administration’s plan is legal.
Voters must be registered 21 days before the election to cast their ballot. They can use a state driver’s license or ID card to register online.
Military and overseas voters can mail their ballot to their county election office. They can also fax or email a signed ballot if they complete and return a “Secret Ballot Waiver Form.”
Mailed ballots must be postmarked through the U.S. Postal Service by Election Day. Election officials urge military and overseas voters to mail ballots through overseas U.S. Post Office branches at U.S. diplomatic missions and the U.S. Military Postal Service.
Ballots will be mailed to out-of-state voters on Oct. 5, followed by in-state voters on Oct. 14.
Oregon had more than 3 million registered voters, according to the most recent state figures. There are roughly 1.2 million unaffiliated voters, 981,100 registered Democrats and 734,800 registered Republicans.