Just days before Tuesday’s election, some voters in Deschutes County have not received their ballots in the mail. However, the fault may not entirely be at the feet of the U.S. Postal Service.

There are many reasons people may have not received ballots yet, said Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison, the most common being that the person’s voter registration has been inactivated in the system.

“Maybe you had your signature challenged last election and you never resolved it, so you’ve been sitting as inactive. You moved and your ballot came back as undeliverable — you’re sitting inactive. You need to take action. When we’re talking about making a plan to vote, we’re talking about checking your registration earlier so those types of things can be resolved,” Dennison told The Bulletin.

While the deadline to register to vote has already passed, time remains for voters to update their registrations online or in person at the county clerk’s office.

However, the last day ballots can be sent through the mail is Thursday. After that, voters who need to resolve their inactive status must pick up their ballots at the county clerk’s office.

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“Check online. Make sure you’re registered, that the address that we have for you is the address you wanted your ballot mailed to. There are so many reasons, and as we get further from the date that ballots were mailed, those are the calls we are taking.”

Voters who suspect they may be inactive, or who would like to update their voter registrations, can do so at oregonvotes.gov or by coming to the Deschutes County Clerk’s office located on the second floor at 1300 Wall St., Bend.

Ballots for Tuesday’s election were mailed starting Oct. 16. As of Wednesday morning, 38.5% of Deschutes County ballots had been returned, 36.7% in Crook County and 32.3% in Jefferson County. Statewide turnout was 29% as of Wednesday morning.

Central Oregon ballot drop boxes

Ballots can be dropped off at officially designated drop boxes across the region.

A map to find the closest drop-off box based on an address in Deschutes County can be found on the county’s website.

In Deschutes County, ballots can be dropped off at these drop-box locations:

• Deschutes Services Center, 1300 NW Wall St., Bend

• Deschutes County Road Department, 61150 SE 27th St., Bend

• Old Mill District in the parking lot south of the Hilton Garden Inn, 459 SW Bluff Drive, Bend

• Bradbury Park & Ride across from the Bend Park & Recreation District Pavilion off of SW Simpson Avenue and SW Columbia Street

• Pine Nursery Park, 3750 NE Purcell Blvd., Bend

• Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center Fairgrounds, Redmond

• Redmond Public Library 827 SW Deschutes Ave.

• Sisters City Hall, 520 E. Cascade Ave.

• Sunriver Public Library, 56855 Venture Lane

• La Pine Public Library, 16425 First St.

For Jefferson County, a list and a map of drop-off sites can be found on the county clerk’s office website, and for Crook County a list can be found on the county clerk’s office page.