A proposal to address Oregon’s road funding problems with new taxes and fees was lagging in early returns Tuesday, with about one-fifth of ballots counted statewide.

As of 8 p.m. Tuesday evening, nearly 83% of votes tallied were against Measure 120, according to early returns from the Oregon Secretary of State. More than 560,000 people had voted on the measure.

The measure was floated as a solution to widespread cash gaps dogging state and local transportation agencies. Its failure would send leaders back to the drawing board without new funding they say they need to maintain the state’s aging bridges and roads.

Few, if any, observers expected Measure 120 to pass. It sought to raise the state’s gas tax by six cents, double registration and titling fees and temporarily hike a payroll tax to pay for public transit.

But many Oregonians balked at the proposal. People across the state are strapped by the high cost of housing, health care, groceries, and soaring gas prices due to the U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran.

Thomas Lundley, an incoming law student at Willamette University, said he voted against the measure because he found it difficult to support a proposal that asks struggling families to pay more for transportation.

“It’s going to be such a difficult thing to finance in the coming months,” Lundley said, as he dropped off his ballot in Portland on Tuesday.

The results mark yet another setback for state leaders who have been trying to boost the state’s transportation system for nearly two years.

Lawmakers failed to pass a comprehensive funding package during the 2025 legislative session. Last fall, the Democratic majority returned to Salem and passed a bill with the proposed tax and fee increases.

But Republican leaders, seeking to stop the bill, promptly launched a campaign that gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures to refer the measure to Oregon voters. For Democrats, the proposal stood starkly at odds with the majority party’s broad push to win elections in November by appealing to constituents’ concerns about the high cost of living.

“I do not want an increase in gas taxes. They’re too high right now,” Sister Barbara Julian, a 79-year-old Bend resident, said while sitting in a car outside the elections office in Deschutes County on Tuesday.

“They gotta cut it out someplace. I don’t think they need any more gas taxes. So I voted no on that one.”

Democrats ultimately moved the gas tax vote from the November general election — when state leaders, including Gov. Tina Kotek, is up for reelection — to May. Many insist their goal was simply to get clarity sooner. Still, the proposal was so widely expected to fail that, when it went to voters, Oregon’s Democratic leaders did not campaign in support of it.

Carl Hermann, of Milton-Freewater, said fuel prices were top of mind when he voted against the gas tax.

“I’m not only just a driver and a citizen, I’m also a farmer,” Hermann said after dropping off his ballot at the Umatilla County Courthouse in Pendleton. “Right now, diesel is about to the max of being able to – forget about a profit and a big profit – break even.”

Oregon lawmakers have known for years that they needed new strategies to generate more money necessary to pave roads, replace bridges and tackle increasingly expensive mega projects. Left unaddressed, transportation leaders warn, those costs could increase.

Kotek is working on a funding plan that she plans to introduce in the coming legislative session. While it’s unclear precisely what leaders will do next, Tuesday’s results made one thing clear: Oregonians aren’t keen on the solution coming out of their pocketbooks.

OPB’s Antonio Sierra, Kristian Foden-Vencil and Kathryn Styer Martínez contributed to this story.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/19/oregon-gas-tax-lags-early-returns-primary-election/