Hillsboro: Ballots Due by 8 p.m. Nov. 3; State Lists Five Drop Boxes and an Oct. 27 Mail Date
- Hillsboro voters have until 8 p.m.
- Counties could begin mailing ballots on Oct.
- Ballots at Hillsboro addresses can also include local contests, and Focus Hillsboro has published explainers on the City Council candidates and the Hillsboro School District bond, Measure 34-355.
Hillsboro voters have until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to put general election ballots in an official drop box, and the Oregon Secretary of State lists Tuesday, Oct. 27, as the last recommended day to return them by mail. A statewide drop-site list the state marked final on Oct. 22 shows five 24-hour drop boxes in Hillsboro, including the two library boxes the city pointed voters to on Oct. 15.
Counties could begin mailing ballots on Oct. 14, according to the state’s 2026 elections calendar, and the city’s release said they were “now landing in mailboxes” the next day. The state’s general election page says each ballot lists candidates and measures based on the voter’s home address, with governor and U.S. senator races on every ballot.
Ballots at Hillsboro addresses can also include local contests, and Focus Hillsboro has published explainers on the City Council candidates and the Hillsboro School District bond, Measure 34-355. The return deadlines are the same for every ballot.
The deadlines in one place
The table combines the Secretary of State’s voting page with page 15 of the state’s elections calendar.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| Oct. 14 | First day counties could mail ballots to voters |
| Oct. 20 | Last day for counties to mail ballots to voters |
| Oct. 27 | Last recommended day to return ballots by mail |
| Oct. 29 | Last day counties are required to mail absentee, reissued or replacement ballots |
| Nov. 3 | Election Day: county elections offices open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; drop boxes close at 8 p.m.; mailed ballots must be postmarked by this date |
| Nov. 10 | Last day for county clerks to receive ballots postmarked by Election Day |
| Nov. 24 | Last day to resolve ballot challenges, such as a missing or non-matching signature |
The city and state word this differently. The city’s release says a ballot must be in a drop box “or postmarked by November 3, 2026, at 8 pm.” The state’s pages attach the 8 p.m. cutoff to drop boxes and county offices, and say only that mailed ballots must be postmarked by Election Day.
Five boxes with Hillsboro addresses
The state’s official drop-site list names five Hillsboro locations, each with an outside box open 24 hours. They include Brookwood Library at 2850 NE Brookwood Pkwy., Shute Park Library at 775 SE 10th Ave., and Westside Commons at 801 NE 34th Ave.
Two are county sites: the Washington County Public Services Building parking lot at 155 N. First Ave., and the Washington County Elections Office at 2925 NE Aloclek Drive, Suite 170. By our count, that makes five of the 21 Washington County sites on the list.
The list calls the Brookwood box the “most-used box in the county” and warns that it can get congested with traffic on Election Day. It also places two boxes at the elections office, one outside the entrance and one in the southwest corner of the lot.
Closing time is the same at every box. The state’s drop box locator, also reached at OregonVotes.gov/dropbox, says ballots can be delivered until 8 p.m. on Election Day and that voters “who are in line at 8:00 PM may drop off their ballot.”
Mailing after Oct. 27 means asking for a postmark
Mail runs on a different clock. The Secretary of State’s office “strongly encourages” drop boxes and asks mail voters to send ballots by Oct. 27, noting that “USPS delivery times may vary.” The city’s release likewise says to mail at least seven days before Election Day.
After Oct. 27, the state tells voters to ask a postal worker to postmark the ballot by hand at a local branch. Its elections FAQ describes the postmark rule as a 2021 law: a ballot mailed on Election Day can count if it is “picked up and postmarked by the post office that day” and arrives within seven days.
The FAQ adds that a state rule, OAR 165-007-0045, requires a “postal indicator” showing the ballot was mailed on or before Election Day. The state’s calendar cites ORS 254.470 for both the Nov. 3 postmark deadline and the Nov. 10 receipt deadline.
Signatures, tracking and missing ballots
A ballot that arrives on time still has to pass a signature check. The state says only the voter can sign the return envelope, and county staff compare every signature with the voter’s registration record. A missing or non-matching signature brings a challenge notice, and the voter has until 21 days after the election, Nov. 24, to resolve it.
The state’s BallotTrax service at OregonVotes.gov/track, which the city’s release also promotes, flags that problem. It sends email, text or phone updates when a ballot is mailed, received and accepted, or when a fixable signature issue holds it up. Sign-up asks for name, date of birth and home ZIP code, exactly as on the voter registration.
The state says the Legislature funded the statewide service in September 2026, in response to concerns about Post Office service changes, for this general election only. Its tracking page asks mail voters to allow up to seven days for delivery back to the county.
Not every registered voter gets a ballot in the mail. The state says ballots are not mailed to voters with an inactive status, who should update their registration at OregonVotes.gov/myvote or contact the county.
For a ballot that was lost, destroyed or damaged, the state says to call the county elections office for a replacement, using the contacts on its county officials page. Oct. 29 is the last day counties are required to mail one.
Top image: Illustrative image, 2020: an official ballot drop box in Eugene, Oregon (not a Washington County box). Photo: Rick Obst, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
