QuickTake:

Lane County elections officials are working to fix an equipment malfunction that is delaying the next release of updated returns.

Ballot-sorting equipment at the Lane County Elections Office stopped working this morning due to a clog in an inkjet line, pausing ballot processing and delaying updated results, Lane County officials said Wednesday, Nov. 4.

The high-speed sorting equipment is a key part of how ballots are processed in Lane County, officials said in a news release. With high voter turnout and the number of ballots still needing to be counted, using a manual process during the time the machine was down was not feasible, the county said.

“We understand this delay is disappointing to many people in our community,” County Clerk Tommy Gong said in a statement. “We’re appreciative of the technicians who are working to get us back up and running this afternoon. We anticipate our next round of election results will be available tomorrow.”

Before the malfunction, updated ballot results were expected before 5 p.m. Wednesday.

An updated election results posting schedule will be published online after the equipment is repaired and processing can resume. All results are unofficial until certification Nov. 25.

Lane County’s ballot return dashboard shows 165,737 ballots returned, though that figure will change as postmarked ballots arrive and “cured” ballots are returned. A cured ballots needed additional verification from voters to be processed.

More information about ballot processing and election security is available at www.LaneCountyOR.gov/ElectionSecurity.

The life of a Lane County ballot – before and after Election Day 

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.