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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
House Bill 3785
Sponsored by Representative CHAICHI; Representative HUDSON
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure as introduced.The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability
standards.
Digest: The Act lets people convicted of a felony vote while in custody. (Flesch Readability
Score:60.7).
Allows persons convicted of a felony to register to vote, update voter registration and vote in
elections while incarcerated. Provides that a person does not forfeit and may not be deprived of the
right to vote while incarcerated on a felony.Specifies that a person’s residence is where the person
resided prior to incarceration.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to voting by adults in custody; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 137.281, 247.013
and247.035.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 137.281 is amended to read:
137.281. (1) In any felony case, when the defendant is sentenced to a term of incarceration, the
defendant is deprived of all rights and privileges described in subsection (3) of this section from the
date of sentencing until:
(a) The defendant is released from incarceration; or
(b) The defendant’s conviction is set aside.
(2) Subsection (1) of this section applies to any term of incarceration, whether the term of
incarceration was imposed as a result of conviction or as a sanction or revocation resulting from
the defendant’s violation of the terms and conditions of probation, parole or post-prison supervision.
(3) The rights and privileges of which a person may be deprived under this section are:
(a) Holding a public office or an office of a political party or becoming or remaining a candidate
for either office;
(b) Holding a position of private trust; or
(c) Acting as a juror.[; or]
[(d) Exercising the right to vote.]
(4) If the court under subsection (1) of this section temporarily stays execution of sentence for
any purpose other than probation, the defendant nonetheless is sentenced for purposes of subsection
(1) of this section.
[(5) A person convicted of any crime and serving a term of imprisonment in any federal correctional
institution in this state is deprived of the rights to register to vote, update a registration or vote in any
election in this state from the date of sentencing until:]
[(a) The person is discharged or paroled from imprisonment; or]
[(b) The person’s conviction is set aside.]
[(6) The county clerk or county official in charge of elections in any county may cancel the regis-
NOTE:Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 1997 HB3785
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tration of any person serving a term of imprisonment in any federal correctional institution in this
state.]
[(7)] (5) Except as otherwise provided in ORS 10.030, the rights and privileges withdrawn by this
section are restored automatically upon release from incarceration, but in the case of parole shall
be automatically withdrawn upon a subsequent imprisonment for violation of the terms of the parole.
(6) A defendant sentenced to a term of incarceration in a felony case does not forfeit and
may not be deprived of the right to vote while incarcerated.
SECTION 2. ORS 247.013 is amended to read:
247.013. (1)(a) A qualified person shall be considered registered to vote in a county when the
person’s first registration in the county occurs as described in ORS 247.012.
(b) A qualified person who is registered to vote and is in the physical custody of a jail,
prison or correctional facility, including a local correctional facility as defined in ORS 169.005
or a youth correction facility as defined in ORS 162.135, shall be considered registered to vote
in the county of the qualified elector’s last voluntary residence.
(2) An elector who changes residence address from the county in which the elector is registered
to a different county within the state, in order to vote in an election, must be an elector registered
in the county in which the new residence address of the elector is located.
(3) If there is a change in any information required for registration under this chapter, and the
elector has not changed residence address to another county, the registration of the elector may be
updated as provided in this chapter.
(4) Notwithstanding subsections (2) and (3) of this section, if an elector changes residence ad-
dress from the county in which the elector is registered to a different county within the state, the
elector need not register again if the registration of the elector is updated.
(5) If the county clerk does not have evidence of a change in any information required for reg-
istration under this chapter for an elector, the registration of the elector shall be considered active.
(6) The registration of an elector shall be considered inactive if:
(a) The county clerk has received evidence that there has been a change in the information re-
quired for registration under this chapter; and
(b) The county clerk has mailed the notice described in ORS 247.563.
(7) The inactive registration of an elector must be updated before the elector may vote in an
election.
SECTION 3. ORS 247.035 is amended to read:
247.035. (1) An elections official, in determining the residence and qualifications of a person of-
fering to register or vote, shall consider the following rules, so far as they may be applicable:
(a) The person’s residence shall be the place in which habitation is fixed and to which, when the
person is absent, the person intends to return.
(b) If a person’s property is split by a jurisdictional line, the person shall be registered where
the residence is located. If the residence is split by a jurisdictional line, the person shall register
where the greatest value of the residence is located according to county assessment and taxation
records.
(c) A person shall not be considered to have gained a residence in any location in this state into
which the person comes for temporary purposes only, without the intention of making it the person’s
home.
(d) If a person moves to another state with the intention of making a permanent home, the
person shall be considered to have lost residence in this state.
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(e) If a person goes from this state into any other state or territory and votes there, the person
shall be considered to have lost residence in this state.
(f) A person who has left the place of the person’s residence for a temporary purpose only
[shall] may not be considered to have lost residence.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section[,]:
(a) A person who has left the place of the person’s residence for a temporary purpose only, who
has not established another residence for voter registration purposes and who does not have a place
in which habitation is fixed [shall] may not be considered to have changed or lost residence. The
person may register at the address of the place the person’s residence was located before the person
left.
(b) A person who has left the place of the person’s residence as part of the person’s
confinement in a jail, prison or correctional facility, including a local correctional facility as
defined in ORS 169.005 or a youth correction facility as defined in ORS 162.135, who has not
established another residence for voter registration purposes, and who does not have a place
in which habitation is fixed, may not be considered to have changed or lost residence. The
person may register at the address of the place the person’s residence was located before the
person left, including a residence address described in ORS 247.038.
(3) An elections official may consider, but is not limited to considering, the following factors in
determining residency of a person for voter registration purposes:
(a) Where the person receives personal mail;
(b) Where the person is licensed to drive;
(c) Where the person registers motor vehicles for personal use;
(d) Where any immediate family members of the person reside;
(e) The address from which the person pays for utility services; and
(f) The address from which the person files any federal or state income tax returns.
SECTION 4. Section 5 of this 2025 Act is added to and made a part of ORS chapter 247.
SECTION 5.(1) The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Department of Cor-
rections, the Oregon Youth Authority and cities and counties that operate local correctional
facilities and youth correction facilities, shall by rule establish procedures that allow:
(a) All qualified individuals who are in the physical custody of a jail, prison or
correctional facility, including a local correctional facility or a youth correction facility, to
register to vote or update their voter registration;
(b) All registered electors who are in the physical custody of a jail, prison or correctional
facility, including a local correctional facility or a youth correction facility, to receive all
election materials, including ballots and voters’ pamphlets; and
(c) All registered electors who are in the physical custody of a jail, prison or correctional
facility, including a local correctional facility or a youth correction facility, to cast a ballot
in each election.
(2) The Secretary of State shall by rule establish a process for identifying, for an indi-
vidual in the physical custody of a jail, prison or correctional facility, including a local
correctional facility or youth correction facility, the last voluntary residence of the individual
prior to the confinement, including a residence address described in ORS 247.038, for the
purposes of the individual registering to vote or updating the individual’s voter registration.
(3) Notwithstanding ORS 254.115, 254.125 or 254.135, in implementing this section the
Secretary of State may by rule authorize the preparation of ballots of any different weight
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of paper, overall size and shape or other physical criteria as is necessary to conform with
postal, military, correctional or other state and federal statutes regarding the transportation
and delivery of ballots to a jail, prison or correctional facility, including a local correctional
facility or a youth correction facility.
(4) As used in this section:
(a) “Local correctional facility” has the meaning given that term in ORS 169.005.
(b) “Youth correction facility” has the meaning given that term in ORS 162.135.
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