Two new 24-hour ballot drop boxes open in Salem, including the first downtown, after county clash (Oct. 31)
Quick Read
Marion County has opened two new permanent, 24-hour ballot drop boxes in Salem: outside the Marion County Courthouse at 100 High St. NE and at Marion County Fire District No. 1, 300 Cordon Road NE.
County Clerk Bill Burgess says the courthouse box is the first 24/7 ballot drop in downtown Salem.
The boxes arrive after weeks of public conflict between Burgess and county commissioners, who say he skipped the county's contracting process.
Ballots must be in an official drop box or the county elections office by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3. As of Thursday afternoon, about 35.8% of Marion County's active voters had returned ballots, according to unofficial state data.
SALEM, Ore. - Salem voters have two more places to drop off a ballot around the clock before Tuesday's election. Marion County employees installed two permanent, 24-hour drop boxes this week, one outside the Marion County Courthouse at 100 High St. NE and one at Marion County Fire District No. 1 at 300 Cordon Road NE in east Salem, Salem Reporter reported Friday. The boxes came out of county storage and are now operational, the outlet reported.
The Marion County Clerk's Office confirms the two new boxes in a notice on its elections page. The notice lists the fire district address as 330 Cordon Road NE; the fire district, Salem Reporter and the Statesman Journal all give the address as 300 Cordon Road NE.
Burgess said the courthouse box will be the first 24/7 ballot drop in downtown Salem, the Statesman Journal reported. The only other downtown Salem site in the county's voters' pamphlet is the indoor box at the clerk's office, 555 Court St. NE, Suite 2130, open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
Where the boxes came from
The boxes are part of a statewide push by Secretary of State Tobias Read to add drop sites after U.S. Postal Service changes affected postmarks. Lawmakers' Joint Emergency Board approved Read's $1.25 million request, which included money for 20 new drop box locations, on Sept. 10, the Statesman Journal reported. As of Oct. 28, the state had announced 17 new boxes installed with that money, not counting the two in Marion County and one other site, the paper reported, citing Secretary of State spokesperson Connor Radnovich.
Marion County, which already had 21 official drop sites, was not among the counties first picked for the money. Burgess contacted the Secretary of State's office on Sept. 21 about using it, according to emails the Statesman Journal reviewed. The two boxes were bought with a 2020 grant and kept in storage. Burgess told the paper the Cordon Road drive-up box will cost $3,500 to install, that the courthouse box cost was not yet known, and that he plans to buy two new backup boxes at about $4,000 each.
A state-backed study obtained by the Statesman Journal found the Cordon Road box puts a drop site within reach of 350 more voters by transit. The county put the downtown box on its own courthouse property rather than across the street at Courthouse Square, where the sidewalk belongs to the city, the paper reported.
The fight behind it
Getting the boxes in place took weeks and a public falling-out. Commissioners first heard the request Oct. 6 and declined it "at this time," according to county minutes Willamette News reported Oct. 17. On Oct. 21, Commissioners Colm Willis and Kevin Cameron voted to approve an agreement with the fire district for the Cordon Road box, after Willis publicly rebuked Burgess at the meeting, Salem Reporter reported. Commissioner Danielle Bethell was absent, according to a Citizen Portal summary of the meeting.
Bethell told the Statesman Journal that when the request first came to the board there was no contract or bids, and that Burgess later proposed moving the downtown box without what she called thoughtful work on placement. "This isn't about money," Bethell said, according to the paper. "This is about respecting the process and truly prioritizing access to ballot boxes."
In a statement quoted by the Statesman Journal, Willis said Burgess had the money in his budget, asked commissioners to sidestep their process and then blamed them in the press, calling Burgess' claim that the board was delaying the boxes "ludicrous and false" and accusing him of engaging in "a political stunt during an election year." Cameron did not respond to the paper's request for comment.
Willamette News could read only part of the Statesman Journal story, which is behind a paywall, and did not find a public response from Burgess to Willis' latest statement as of Saturday morning.
How to return your ballot
Ballots must be in an official drop box or a county elections office by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. No postage is needed at a drop box, and ballots left in drop boxes are picked up by elections workers and taken directly to the county, according to the Secretary of State.
The state has recommended using drop boxes instead of the mail since Oct. 28, Read's office said. A mailed ballot still counts if it is postmarked by Nov. 3 and arrives by Nov. 10, but the county pamphlet advises anyone mailing late to take it to a post office counter and watch it get hand-stamped.
Other Salem and Keizer drop sites listed in the pamphlet include Marion County Health at 3180 Center St. NE (curbside, 24 hours), Keizer City Hall at 930 Chemawa Road NE (curbside, 24 hours) and the Vista, Sunnyslope and Hayesville Roth's Fresh Market stores (indoor, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily). The pamphlet also lists two drive-thru and park-and-drop sites that open only Monday, Nov. 2, and Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The clerk's office is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Voters can track a ballot through the county's BallotTrax sign-up. Questions go to Marion County Elections at 503-588-5041.
Where turnout stands
As of 3:39 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, Marion County had received 83,771 ballots, or 35.8% of its 234,065 active voters, according to unofficial state data. That trails the statewide rate of 37.9%. Polk County stood at 40.1%, Yamhill at 39.1%, Linn at 39.5% and Benton at 44.8%. On Monday, Oct. 26, Marion was at about 22.1%.
Sources
Salem Reporter: New ballot drop sites now open after commissioners, Marion County Clerk clash, by Joe Siess (Oct. 30, 2026)
Salem Reporter: After public blowup, Marion County commissioners green light ballot drop box (Oct. 21, 2026)
Statesman Journal: Downtown Salem gets first 24/7 ballot box after clash with officials (Oct. 30, 2026)
Citizen Portal: Marion County approves IGA to place permanent ballot drop box on Cordon Road (Oct. 2026)
Marion County Clerk: Elections page notice on new 24-hour drop boxes
Marion County Clerk: Voters' pamphlet, Nov. 3, 2026 general election
Marion County Fire District No. 1: District headquarters, 300 Cordon Road NE
Oregon Secretary of State: 2026 general election unofficial ballot returns (report generated Oct. 30, 2026, 3:39 p.m.)
Oregon Secretary of State: General Election, Nov. 3, 2026
Oregon Secretary of State: Last recommended day to mail ballots for November election is Oct. 27
Cover photo: Marion County Courthouse Salem Oregon, by M.O. Stevens, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
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