17 Oregon Communities Participate in Oregon Student Mock Election – Results Announced!

For Immediate Release:

May 12, 2026

The 2026 Oregon Student Mock Election Primary election was hosted again by the League of Women  Voters of Oregon. For this election, we had 22 teachers registering about 3,400 students from 17 different Oregon communities, including (in alphabetical order) Albany, Corvallis, Dayville, Dufur, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Lake Oswego, North Bend, Oregon City, Pendleton, Pine Eagle Portland, Roseburg, St Helens, West Linn, and Winston. In some cases, a teacher registered for just one class and in others  they registered for their whole department or school. Registration does not require that student names  or party affiliations are included. Teachers register with their own name, the name of their school, and  the approximate number of students who will be voting. 

Our primary objective for the mock election is to provide students with an authentic Oregon voting  experience. In this election, students voted for US Senator, Oregon Governor, and Ballot Measure 120.  Their mock ballots were designed to make them choose a party before voting – just as we do in the state  of Oregon. With that in mind, the ballots had three columns: Republican, Democrat, and Nonaffiliated.  Students were required to select just one column for voting. The hope was that they would see that the  two-party closed primary system allows only those registered for one of the two major parties to vote in  partisan races. The nonaffiliated column allowed voting only for the ballot measure.  

With the school calendar for the month of May being tightly packed with end-of-year activities and  events, several teachers let me know they were not going to be able to get the election done. For those  who were able to participate we had the following results:

> Republican US Senate: David Brock Smith won the primary with 27% of the total vote.

> Republican Governor: Chris Dudley won the primary with 22% of the total vote.

> Democrat US Senate: Jeff Merkley won the primary with 87% of the total vote.

> Democrat Governor: Tina Kotek won the primary with 48% of the total vote.

> Measure 120: Passed with 76% of students voting yes.  

Teachers were also offered alternative ballots that included each of the US House of Representatives  Districts. Only a few teachers used that option, including for District 2 (CD2) and District 5 (CD5). For  other US Districts, the data was too small to consider valid.  

> Republican CD2: Cliff Bentz won the Republican primary with 72% of the student vote.

> Democrat CD5: Janelle Bynum was elected with 66% of the student vote.  

> Republican CD5. Johathan Lockwood was elected with 61% of the student vote. 

One school requested the addition of the Multnomah County Measure 26-261, which passed with 79% of the student vote in that school. 

As part of the results process, teachers were asked to share how their voting activities went. One teacher  reported that students failed to follow the one-column directions and cast votes for multiple parties. She  used the opportunity to help her students understand the closed primary and held a revote. Another  teacher had individual students pick one candidate to study and then to represent that person for the  class. They then held a “mixer” with students presenting the views of their candidate, wearing name  tags that identified their candidate by name and party. The students asked each other questions and  shared their thoughts as their candidate, while everyone took notes about the candidates they “met.”  The teacher reported that students really enjoyed the experience.

Contact:

lwvor@lwvor.org

503-581-5722

League of Women Voters of Oregon