Record Turnout in Oregon Primary not enough; Twice that needed for Nov. 3
Keith Mobley
Guest Editorial by Kieth Mobley
The Dalles, Ore., Oct. 6, 2026 — When the results of the 2026 May primary election were known, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read issued a release with this headline:
“Secretary Read Certifies May Election Results, Confirms Historic Turnout,” and “Oregon records the highest midterm primary voter turnout in state history.”
The release includes these facts: “In total, more than 1.28 million eligible Oregonians voted, the most in a midterm primary election in state history. The official turnout rate was 41.87%, the second highest for a midterm primary since 1998, when Oregon became an exclusively vote-by-mail state.”
Oregon’s Secretary of State has to put a positive spin on the May election results.
I do not.
An official turnout rate of 41.7% may be impressive in terms of past performance, but now is a time when the turnout should, and could, be twice that.
The current president is doing all he can to assure midterm elections do not result in the loss of his favorable majority in the House or Senate, or possibly both. If control is lost in either, he knows there will be investigations, and the loss of control and power he has enjoyed without checks and balances from the legislative branch.
While urging the need to protect election integrity, he is leading the effort to limit voting that ends on November 3. The article cited below describes the “. . . Trump administration’s multifaceted campaign to take over and interfere with elections by suppressing participation, undermining confidence in election systems, and manipulating outcomes.”
The president has been clear in expressing his readiness to act: "I'd do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections," Trump said in May in response to a question from a reporter.” And from the same article, in the link below: "Trump has emptied out the tool shed looking for tools to manipulate the election," said Harvard University government professor Steven Levitsky, co-author of the book "How Democracies Die."
Clearly, it is a good time for a record turnout.
-Keith Mobley, Dufur
