The short version
Washington County's November 3 general election is underway, and Oregon votes entirely by mail, so the practical details matter more than the campaign noise. As of this update on Friday, October 23, ballots went into the mail on Wednesday, October 14 and should be in hand at Bethany and Oak Hills mailboxes; if yours has not arrived, call the Washington County elections office before assuming it is lost. Your completed ballot needs to be in the mail or in an official drop box by 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3.
We never tell anyone how to vote on this site. What we do is make the mechanics easy: the deadlines, the races, and where to read the candidates' own answers.
Registration is closed; returning is what is left
The voter registration deadline for the November 3 election was Tuesday, October 13, 2026, and that window has closed. If you are registered and your ballot has not arrived yet, check the mail over the next few days, then call the Washington County elections office before assuming it is lost.
Already holding your ballot? The next step is simple: fill it out, sign the return envelope, and get it back early. Official drop boxes are at every WCCLS library, including the Cedar Mill and Bethany Community Library branches, and at county sites, open 24 hours through Election Day.
What is on the ballot
The November ballot for Beaverton and Washington County voters includes a Beaverton City Council runoff and two Washington County Board of Commissioners races, per the local election guide published this week. The county chair race is a runoff between Fai and Treece, and the District 4 board race is between Callaway and Sinclair, both covered in depth by the Hillsboro News-Times.
There may also be local measures on your ballot depending on your exact address, so read the voters' pamphlet that arrives with your ballot rather than relying on anyone's summary, including ours.
One note from this week: Washington County officials disclosed a misprint in the printed Voters' Pamphlet for this election, a page-layout error in the U.S. Senate section. The races on your ballot are unaffected, and the corrected pamphlet is on the county elections page, linked below.
How to fill it out and return it
When your ballot arrives, fill it out following the instructions, then sign the return envelope exactly as shown. An unsigned ballot is not counted, and that is the single most common reason a mail ballot gets rejected. Use the pen provided or blue or black ink, and do not overvote a race: vote for no more than the number of seats listed.
Return it two ways: mail it back early enough to arrive by Election Day, or drop it in an official county ballot drop box by 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3. Drop boxes sit at every WCCLS library, including the Cedar Mill and Bethany Community Library branches, and at county sites, open around the clock, and the county lists every location on its elections page.
Track your ballot
Oregon tracks every mail ballot through the system, and Washington County voters can sign up to get notified when their ballot is mailed, received and counted. It is a small piece of peace of mind: you know your vote made it in, and you can catch a problem while there is still time to fix it.
If your ballot is challenged for any reason, the county will tell you how to fix it, but only if you are watching. Tracking is worth the two minutes.
Read the candidates' own words
Our standing rule: we never tell anyone how to vote, and we point you to the candidates' own answers instead of summarizing them for you. The Hillsboro News-Times ran detailed Q&As with the county chair and District 4 candidates this month, and the voters' pamphlet has each candidate's own statement.
Read those, talk it over at your kitchen table, and vote your own values. That is the whole job.
Ask us anything
Elections shape the schools, roads and housing decisions that make this corridor what it is, so we keep our civic posts updated every cycle. If you are new to Oregon or to this neighborhood and have a question about how any of it works, ask us and we will point you to the right official source.
And if you are weighing a move to Bethany or Oak Hills, the same honesty applies: we will give you the current picture, no invented numbers and no pressure.