Senate approves bill requiring local election filings to be posted online

The Oregon Senate passed Senate Bill 580 on May 7, a transparency measure requiring county and city election officials to publish candidate filings and declarations on their official websites within set timeframes.

Sponsor Senator Frederick said the bill addresses a public‑access gap for local elections: unlike statewide candidate filings that are available on ORESTAR, local candidate filings are not consistently posted online. “To solve this problem, Senate Bill 580 does two very simple things,” Frederick told the Senate: local election officials must post a candidate’s name and the office sought within five business days of filing, and the official must post the candidate’s declaration of candidacy within two business days after determining eligibility. Candidate withdrawals must also be posted within two business days. The bill exempts precinct committee person filings from the declaration posting requirement.

Frederick said the bill was amended after technical discussions with Portland elections staff and the Association of County Clerks and came out of committee on a 5–0 vote. “This bill serves the public interest of transparency and accessibility while also being simple and manageable for our cities and clerks,” Frederick said.

On a recorded roll call the bill passed with 29 ayes. The bill also provides that if an elections official does not post the information on a website, the official must provide the information upon request within five business days without forcing a formal public records request.

Supporters and municipal clerks worked with the sponsor to refine the language for large and small jurisdictions; the amendments the sponsor described were adopted before floor passage. The measure now proceeds to enrollment and subsequent steps in the legislative process.