Oregon SOS staging site publicly displays logic and accuracy test data for Nov. 3 election

By Rebecca Wallis

October 24, 2026 updated 1:45pm

We have confirmed the staging site has been removed from public view.

A staging website controlled by the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office was publicly accessible on the internet Friday, displaying logic and Accuracy test data. The site showed county-by-county and contest-level numbers as of early afternoon.

These figures are not votes cast by voters and have not been counted or received as actual ballots by any county. They are test data generated during required Logic and Accuracy testing.

As of a 1:00 p.m. PT update visible on the site, statewide figures listed 64,453 ballots counted out of 2,875,910 active registered voters (2.24 percent). County pages displayed similar low totals. In Yamhill County, a total of 162 votes were shown in various races. Other counties showed comparable small counts in local races as well.

Oregon law requires counties to conduct Logic and Accuracy testing of vote tally systems before elections. ORS 254.235 requires a preparatory test for logic and accuracy and a public certification test using selected precincts, ballot formats, and districts. The public test must occur no later than seven days before the election.

Yamhill County Clerk Keri Hinton issued a public notice dated October 8, 2026, announcing the public certification test for Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. at the clerk’s office, 414 NE Evans Street, McMinnville. The notice stated the test would check the system to be used in the November 3 election for logic and accuracy and invited interested parties to attend after contacting the office.

Counties across the state performed similar public tests in the days surrounding October 15. Deschutes County, for example, conducted its public certification test on October 20.

The staging site is not the official results page. Official unofficial results after 8 p.m. on Election Day are published at results.oregonvotes.gov. Oregon law prohibits public release of vote tallies from any precinct until after 8 p.m. on Election Day under ORS 260.705.

The staging environment is intended for internal testing and is not supposed to be public-facing or indexed for public search. Screenshots and a screen recording taken Friday afternoon showed the site returning county lists, turnout figures, and contest results for multiple Oregon counties. The site remained accessible as of mid-afternoon Friday.

Yamhill County News notified Yamhill County Clerk Keri Hinton, who contacted the Secretary of State’s Office. By 12:58 p.m. we reported on our social media site, the state had been notified and was taking the test site offline.

Actual ballot returns already far exceed the test numbers. An unofficial Secretary of State report of ballot envelopes marked as returned, generated October 23, listed approximately 489,294 ballots received statewide (15.7 percent of eligible) and 13,191 in Yamhill County. Those figures reflect envelopes received, not tallied votes, and are separate from the staging site data.

Logic and Accuracy testing is a standard pre-election step required of Oregon counties. The test ballots are pre-marked in patterns that include every candidate, write-ins, overvotes, and undervotes. Staff compare the machine totals against a known hand count of the test ballots. The process is documented and open to observation by party representatives and the public under the statute.

The appearance of a public-facing staging site containing those test tallies has drawn attention because the numbers are presented in the same format as election-night results and because the site was reachable without special access. The Secretary of State’s Office controls the results website infrastructure used by counties.

Voters can track the status of their individual ballots (mailed, received, accepted) at OregonVotes.gov/Track. Official results will not be released until after 8 p.m. on November 3.

Photo credit: Yamhill County News