GOTV Oregon Recruits 1,000+ Volunteers for Final-Weekend Ballot Chase

A new statewide effort called GOTV Oregon is recruiting more than 1,000 volunteers and paid ballot chasers for the final weekend before Election Day. The goal is to find Republican voters who haven’t returned their ballots and make sure they do.

Organizers say recent history shows how close Oregon races are. In 2022, Christine Drazan lost the governor’s race by fewer than 70,000 votes, while 120,000 registered Oregon Republicans never turned in a ballot. In 2024, Rep. Tracy Cramer lost House District 22 in Marion County by just 161 votes. That one seat gave Democrats a three-fifths supermajority in the Oregon House, which lets them pass tax increases on a party-line vote.

“161 votes is a few volunteers knocking doors for one weekend,” said Bryan Iverson of GOTV Oregon. “The difference in these races wasn’t persuasion. It was turnout. These voters are already with us. Someone just has to knock on the door and make sure the ballot gets in.”

Because Oregon votes by mail, many ballots sit on kitchen counters until the last few days, and some never get returned at all. Ballots must be dropped off or postmarked by Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. That makes the final weekend the last real chance to reach voters who have a ballot but haven’t sent it back.

The ballot chase runs Saturday, Oct. 31 through Monday, Nov. 2, with two-hour volunteer shifts each day:

• Sat., Oct. 31: 10–12, 12–2, 2–4
  
• Sun., Nov. 1: 12–2, 2–4, 4–6
  
• Mon., Nov. 2: 10–12, 12–2, 2–4, 4–6

No experience is needed. Volunteers are trained and paired with a local team, and most shifts involve knocking doors and reminding voters to return their ballots.

GOTV Oregon is also hiring paid ballot chasers at $35 per hour to work the full weekend and help lead the effort in their area. Organizers encourage people who can’t take a paid spot themselves to pass the opportunity to someone in their county, such as a college student, retiree or neighbor looking for extra income.

Precinct Committee Persons (PCPs) are being asked to take a shift, recruit two people from their precinct and share the call with their local lists. “PCPs know their neighborhoods better than anyone,” said Jessica George of GOTV Oregon. “If every PCP brings two people, we change the math.”

The effort is active in Clackamas, Marion, Polk, Tillamook, Clatsop, Deschutes, Jackson, Multnomah, Hood River and Wasco counties.

Organizers say the message is simple: two hours can save Oregon. “We lost a supermajority-deciding seat by 161 votes,” said Shelley Reimer of GOTV Oregon. “Let’s not leave another one on the table.”