PORTLAND, Ore. -- Ballot boxes were filling up fast across the state on Monday as workers prepared to count votes.

In Multnomah County, 60 percent of registered voters had handed in their ballots on Monday -- about 260,000 people. In Washington County turnout was at 59 percent.

Some of the last-minute voters in Washington County said they missed the cutoff to mail in their ballots. Others said they prefer dropping them off in person because it's more personal.

In Washington County, the elections office on Murray Boulevard gets so busy, they've set up a drop-off site across the street in the Kmart parking lot.

FOX 12 took a behind-the-scenes look at what happens after you turn in your ballot.

In Washington County, 250 people sift through pile after pile in a painstaking process.

"We just take everything apart and separate out those identification ballots and secrecy envelopes and then the ballots and get them prepared for counting which will occur on Tuesday," elections worker Sue Lambing said.

Elections workers said technically they can start counting votes at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.

But they won't be around at midnight so the counting won't start until much later Tuesday morning.

Ballot Boxes Fill As Counting Prep Begins