County plan helps voters avoid heavy traffic

By Steve Law

The Portland Tribune, Sep 10, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

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Portland’s procrastinating voters should have an easier time dropping off ballots at the 11th hour for November’s general election.

Multnomah County Elections Division, bracing for a huge voter turnout because of the presidential race, has acquired larger drop-off boxes to go along with traffic-control remedies adopted last year to ease congestion at the main elections office on 1040 S.E. Morrison St.

More voters seem to wait until the final hours to cast their ballots, causing traffic snarls around the eastside elections office. That makes it harder for voters to park if they need to visit elections staff to work out problems with their ballots, said Eric Sample, elections division spokesman.

To ease traffic tie-ups at the drop-off spots last year, elections officials posted new signs and closed the eastbound lane of Morrison Street between 10th and 11th avenues. This will be the first general election test of the new traffic-control measures.

Some voters complained in the past that the 24-hour drop boxes, similar to those used by the postal service, were full when they arrived to deposit their ballots, Sample said. That should change this fall.

“We are now moving to a box similar to what you see at Blockbuster or one of the other movie rental places,” he said. “It’ll hold four times the amount.”

That also means elections staff won’t have to spend so much time clearing out the boxes, he said.