Title 23, Elections

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, when a contestant files a petition of contest with the circuit court described under ORS 258.036, the contestant shall, within three business days of filing the petition, publish a notice stating that the petition has been…

(1) After the contest hearing, the circuit court shall render a judgment affirming or setting aside the results of the recall election. If the court sets aside the results of the election, a special election on the recall shall be held not later than 35 days after the date the ju…

(1) After the contest hearing, the circuit court shall render a judgment affirming or setting aside the nomination or election of the person for or to the office. (2) If the judgment sets aside the nomination of a person, it also shall declare that the nomination is vacant. (3) E…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, after the contest hearing, the circuit court shall render a judgment affirming or setting aside the approval or rejection of the measure. (2) If the judgment sets aside the approval or rejection of a measure, the circuit c…

Any party to the contest proceeding may appeal from the judgment rendered by the circuit court to the Court of Appeals in the same manner as appeals in civil cases are taken. The appeal shall take precedence over all other business on the docket. [Formerly 251.090]

(1) The Secretary of State shall be responsible for ensuring that the procedures to be used in conducting election recounts assure an accurate recount in the shortest time at the least expense. Whenever demands are filed for a recount of a vote for both a measure and a nomination…

(1) A candidate or an officer of a political party on behalf of a candidate of the political party may file a demand requiring the Secretary of State to direct that a recount be made in specified precincts in which votes were cast for the nomination or office for which the candid…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, the person making a demand for a recount shall be bound by the original official returns unless the person demands a full recount. (2) If a demand for a partial recount is made by a county clerk under ORS 258.161 (3), vote…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, only one recount shall be made for any measure, nomination or office for which a recount may be demanded. (2) If two or more demands for the recount of the same measure are filed with the Secretary of State the demand firs…

(1) After a recount demand is filed, the Secretary of State shall direct the official who conducted the election or the clerk of any county containing precincts in which ballots were cast on the measure or for the nomination or office specified in the demand for a recount to cond…

(1) After receiving notice from the Secretary of State that a recount is to be made, the official directed to conduct the recount shall appoint counting boards from the list of electors qualified to vote in the county in which the recount is demanded. The official shall appoint a…

(1) The ballot boxes containing the ballots to be recounted shall be opened by the official directed to make the recount only in the presence of the counting board and the persons referred to in this section. (2) The counting board shall conduct the recount by hand and, if reques…

(1) The recount shall be completed as soon as practicable after the demand is filed. (2) In the case of a full recount, the official directed to conduct the recount, as soon as practicable after completion of the recount, shall: (a) Certify the abstract of votes recounted to the …

(1) The certification of costs of a recount required in ORS 258.221 (3) may include: (a) Compensation of recount boards. (b) Compensation of additional employees required to conduct the recount and overtime payment to regular employees who are eligible to receive such payments. (…

(1) In the case of a full recount, the abstract of votes resulting from the recount shall be the official return of the election. (2) Except as provided in ORS 258.171 (2), in the case of a partial recount, the abstract of votes recounted shall not be certified and the abstract o…

(1) If the abstract of votes resulting from a full recount shows that the outcome of the election on the measure was changed or that a candidate for whose benefit the recount was demanded received a plurality of the votes, the deposit required by ORS 258.161 shall be refunded by …

If the demand for recount is made for a multicounty or statewide election, the Secretary of State also may collect those costs allowed in ORS 258.231 (1) which the secretary incurs as a result of the recount. [Formerly 251.635]

If two or more recounts are conducted simultaneously, payment of the costs of the recount in counties where the same precinct or precincts are designated for recount by more than one person shall be equitably apportioned among those persons. With the advice of the official direct…

(1) The Secretary of State shall order a full recount of the votes cast for nomination or election to a public office for which the Secretary of State is the filing officer, and the county clerk who conducted the election shall order a full recount of the votes cast for nominatio…

(1) If the official canvass of votes of an election reveals that the difference in the number of votes cast for or against any measure is not more than one-fifth of one percent of the total votes cast for and against the measure, the Secretary of State, in the case of a measure f…

Immediately following the completion of the official canvass of votes for any election, the elections officer who prepared the canvass shall notify the Secretary of State of any election subject to an automatic full recount under ORS 258.280 and 258.290. [Formerly 251.650; 2001 c…

As used in this chapter: (1)(a) “Candidate” means: (A) An individual whose name is printed on a ballot, for whom a declaration of candidacy, nominating petition or certificate of nomination to public office has been filed or whose name is expected to be or has been presented, wit…

As used in ORS 260.006 to 260.021, 260.059, 260.061, 260.266 and 260.416: (1) “Election” means an election at which one or more candidates compete to be elected to a public office. (2)(a) “Election cycle,” except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, means the period s…

As used in this chapter, “contribute,” “contribution,” “expend” or “expenditure” does not include: (1) Any written news story, commentary or editorial distributed through the facilities of any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine or other regularly published publication, unl…

(1)(a) For purposes of the contribution limits established in ORS 260.014 and 260.016, contributions made or donations received by multiple membership organizations are considered to be made or received by a single membership organization, if the membership organizations are esta…

(1) A person may not make a contribution to a political candidate, a political committee or a petition committee using cryptocurrency. (2) As used in this section, “cryptocurrency” means digital or virtual currency that relies on cryptography to effect transfers and a decentraliz…

A candidate, political committee or a petition committee may not accept aggregate contributions from a single source of more than $100 per calendar year in the form of physical currency of the United States or of any other country. [2023 c.600 §6] Note: 260.012 was added to and m…

(1)(a) A candidate for state office or the principal campaign committee of a candidate for state office may accept contributions only from the sources and in the amounts described in this section. (b) An in-kind contribution under this section may only be made by a contributor th…

(1)(a) A person may not control more than one of each of the following types of committees at one time: (A) Principal campaign committee. (B) Multicandidate political committee. (C) Political party multicandidate committee. (D) Small donor political committee. (E) Membership orga…

(1) At the end of an election cycle, any unexpended funds that remain in the accounts of a candidate political committee may be used only as follows: (a) To refund contributions to contributors in amounts not exceeding the aggregate contribution received from each contributor dur…

(1) The Campaign Finance Education Fund is established in the General Fund. Moneys in the Campaign Finance Education Fund are continuously appropriated to the Secretary of State for the purpose of carrying out the duties described in ORS 260.264. (2) Moneys in the fund shall cons…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an incumbent holder of a public office who intends to seek reelection shall file a nominating petition or a declaration of candidacy for an additional term of the same public office at least seven days prior to the corresponding filing …

(1) Not later than the third business day after a political committee first receives a contribution or makes an expenditure, the political committee shall: (a) Appoint a treasurer who shall be an elector of this state; (b) Certify the name and address of the treasurer to the fili…

(1) The candidate is personally responsible for the performance of the duties referred to in ORS 260.035 (2). Any default or violation by the treasurer shall be conclusively considered a default or violation by the candidate. Any default or violation by the individual designated …

(1) An individual may be appointed and serve as treasurer of a candidate, a political committee or petition committee or of two or more candidates, political committees or petition committees. (2) A candidate, political committee or petition committee may remove a treasurer. (3) …

(1) Except as provided in ORS 260.043, a candidate who serves as the candidate’s own treasurer, or the treasurer of the principal campaign committee, shall file a statement of organization with the filing officer. The statement shall include: (a) The name, address, occupation, of…

(1) Notwithstanding ORS 260.005 (18) and except as provided in ORS 260.043, a candidate shall designate a political committee as the candidate’s principal campaign committee. A candidate may designate only one political committee as the candidate’s principal campaign committee. (…

(1) The treasurer of a political committee shall file a statement of organization with the filing officer. The statement must include: (a) The name, address and nature of the committee. The address must be the address of a residence, office, headquarters or similar location where…

(1) A candidate who serves as the candidate’s own treasurer and who expects neither the aggregate contributions to be received nor the aggregate expenditures to be made by or on behalf of the candidate to exceed $1,500 in total amount during a calendar year is not required to: (a…

(1) If a person makes independent expenditures in a total amount of more than $250 in a calendar year, the person shall use the electronic filing system adopted under ORS 260.057 to file with the Secretary of State a statement of independent expenditures not later than seven cale…

(1) A filing officer, in accordance with rules adopted by the Secretary of State, may discontinue the statement of organization of a candidate, principal campaign committee, political committee or petition committee if the candidate or committee has not filed a statement of contr…

(1) If the major source of revenue of a corporation is paid-in-capital and the primary purpose of the corporation is to support or oppose any candidate, measure or political party, and the corporation has made a contribution or an expenditure for that purpose, the corporation sha…

The Secretary of State shall assign an identification number to each political committee required to file a statement with the secretary under ORS 260.057. The political committee shall include the identification number with each contribution made by the political committee. [199…

(1) Each political committee shall establish a single exclusive campaign account and each petition committee organized under ORS 260.118 shall establish a single exclusive petition account in a financial institution, as defined in ORS 706.008. The financial institution must be lo…

(1)(a) Each candidate, the treasurer of each political committee, the treasurer of each petition committee and each person that makes independent expenditures in a total amount of more than $250 in a calendar year shall keep detailed accounts. The accounts shall be current as of …

(1) A loan made by or to a candidate, political committee or petition committee must be by written agreement. (2) A candidate, political committee or petition committee shall keep a copy of any written loan agreement with the detailed accounts of the candidate or committee requir…

(1) The Secretary of State by rule shall adopt an electronic filing system to be used by: (a) All candidates and political committees to file with the secretary statements of contributions received and expenditures made by the candidates and political committees, as described in …

(1) The Secretary of State by rule shall adopt an addition to the electronic filing system described in ORS 260.057 to be used by: (a) Membership organizations; (b) Persons; and (c) Any combination of organizations or persons that has a collective capacity and that is legally sep…

(1) For elections occurring after January 1, 2028, the Secretary of State shall: (a) At least 10 days before each election, release on the dashboard a list of the 100 largest contributors to candidates or principal campaign committees, aggregated across all candidates. (b) Annual…

(1) If a candidate, political committee or petition committee receives updated information that an in-kind contribution received from another candidate, political committee or petition committee reported in a statement filed under ORS 260.057, 260.076 or 260.118 is inaccurate or …