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PORTLAND, Ore. - 1PDX2026, an initiative petition submitted for signature verification on July 6, 2026, is currently under review by Portland City Elections and Multnomah County Elections Offices. City Elections is committed to a thorough, accurate review of each petition submitted for verification and to process transparency. We encourage patience while we do this important work. This update provides the facts of the petition review process.
Signature verification process in general
The City and County work together to complete signature verification within 30 days after receiving signatures, as required by Oregon state law and administrative rules. City Elections begins the review process for each petition, inspecting each signature sheet for required circulator certification and use of approved sheets, and reviewing each signature line to ensure it complies with the requirements in chapter 165, division 14, of the Oregon Administrative Rules. City Elections then provides the total number of signatures to the County for statistical sampling (as outlined in OAR 165-014-0110). The County compares signatures in the sample against the voter registration database to determine whether it matches the signature of a registered Portland voter.
Every time a petition page, signature line, or signature is rejected, multiple workers review the rejection before final disqualification, using an approach that enfranchises petition signers to the fullest extent possible under the law.
City's role in the petition review process
The signature verification process is administrative; its purpose is to determine whether a petition contains enough genuine voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. The Oregon Secretary of State has a separate process for addressing election law violations by circulators and chief petitioners, such as such improper signature gathering methods or false statements concerning petitions.
Signatures rejected in 1PDX2026
Chief petitioners stated that they submitted 63,315 signatures for verification, on 8,805 pages. During the verification process, City Elections discovered two additional signature pages that Chief Petitioners had failed to number, rejected 498 signature pages for noncompliance with state election rules, and rejected 4,646 individual signatures on otherwise approved sheets. In total, City Elections referred 55,837 signature lines to the County for statistical sampling and signature verification. This information has already been made available to all interested parties. We continue to welcome observers and answer questions as the process continues.
Summary of rejected signature pages and reasons for rejection
Summary of rejected individual signatures lines and reasons for rejection
Current status of 1PDX2026
The signature verification process is still underway.
Chief Petitioners require at least 40,437 signatures of registered Portland voters to qualify 1PDX2026 to the ballot. To determine whether the submitted signatures are sufficient, Oregon law requires elections officials to take a statistical sample of the whole petition, verify the signatures in that sample, and apply the results to determine the number of qualifying signatures in the full submission.
The first statistical sampling has been completed. Yesterday, July 28, 2026, Multnomah County Elections reported that results for the first statistical sample indicated petitioners had submitted a total of 32,880 valid signatures. This result is insufficient to qualify the petition to the ballot.
When a petition fails to qualify on a first sample, state law requires that elections officials take a second sample. That sample has been selected, and signature review is underway. Results from a second sample will be combined with results from the first sample, as required by law, to determine whether the petition qualifies. Elections officials expect to complete review of the second sample next week.
City Elections will announce the final results publicly and on its website by the deadline of August 5, 2026.
Additional Documents:
First Sample Results Memo (Multnomah County Elections)
Summary of rejected sheets and signatures in pre-processing (Portland City Elections)
Complete crosswalk of petition following renumbering (Portland City Elections)
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