The only competitive statewide race features the Republicans running for the party's nomination for U.S. Senate. It's a lively contest with plenty of twists and turns, but at a direct level, it only involves the 30 percent of the voters who are registered Republicans.
For everyone else, the real action is local – and the issues are as varied as Oregon's geography.
"There are pockets of people around the state who have a great interest in what's going on," said Pat McCormick, a veteran public affairs consultant in Portland. "But it's not universally true of all voters."
In the heart of Oregon's Silicon Forest, Beaverton voters are debating whether to approve a $680 million school bond measure, the largest of its kind in state history.
In southern Oregon's Jackson County – where rural splendor coexists with the urban charms of Ashland's Shakespeare Festival – voters are being asked to cast judgment on banning genetically modified crops.
Portland Democratic political consultant Mark Wiener jokingly called it an "amuse-bouche" presaging a likely fight in the fall over a proposed ballot measure that would require labeling for food containing genetically modified ingredients.
In Portland, voters will decide whether to yank the water and sewer bureaus from the city commissioners and put them in a separate public water district.
