Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read on Monday rebuked the Trump administration’s recent round of threats against state-run elections and urged Oregonians to educate themselves on how best to ensure their ballot is counted in November.
Read’s comments at Portland Community College followed recent statements from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warning state officials could face potential criminal investigations and federal funding losses for failing to comply with the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent noncitizens from voting.
President Donald Trump during his Thursday nationwide address also renewed his push to cast doubt on the 2020 election, without providing any evidence for his claims of fraud or foreign interference.
“This is not about improving elections. It’s about putting political pressure on the people responsible for administering them,” Read told reporters. “This is about making it harder for American citizens to vote, and it’s about casting doubt on any election results that the president doesn’t like.”
The U.S. Constitution gives states the authority to conduct elections. Oregon’s nearly three-decade history as the first state in the nation to vote entirely by mail system has made it a target for the federal government’s efforts to cast doubt on the integrity of its elections, though data shows Oregon elections are secure. A 2020 review from Oregon’s Legislative Fiscal Office found that the state obtained 38 criminal convictions related to voter fraud out of 60.9 million ballots cast from 2000 to 2019, or a rate of .00006%.
A series of clerical errors in recent years from the Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services division also led some noncitizens to receive ballots and cast votes.
The Oregon Secretary of State’s office referred three individuals for prosecution to the Oregon Department of Justice last year, but the agency has declined to pursue any of the cases out of concerns of selective prosecution. The DMV has since added more safeguards to prevent errant registrations, including separating checkboxes for foreign and U.S. passports and requiring desk workers to confirm someone provided a document proving citizenship.
The U.S. Department of Justice, meanwhile, warned Read earlier this month that state election workers who facilitate noncitizens being allowed to vote could face criminal prosecution, though the agency has stopped short of claiming that is currently happening in Oregon. The federal government is also pushing states to run their voter rolls through a Homeland Security database that can make errors when it comes to newly naturalized citizens, but federal judges have offered conflicting orders that raise questions about the future viability of that database.
In the meantime, The Trump administration has not won a single case against states in federal court so far to obtain sensitive voter registration data from states such as names, dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers. In a January decision rejecting the Trump administration’s attempt to seize Oregon voter information, Eugene-based Judge Mustafa Kasubhai, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden, wrote that the federal government’s efforts were “chilling” and could “‘at very well lead to an erosion of voting rights and voter participation.”
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield also joined more than 20 other states in suing the federal government in April to block Trump’s executive order promoting the creation of a nationwide voter registration list that could be used by the U.S. Postal Service to determine who receives a ballot.
A federal judge in June blocked major parts of that order, though the federal government has filed an appeal with the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.
“We successfully defended Oregonians’ private voter information in federal court, and we’re working closely with county clerks across Oregon to strengthen election security, to prepare for any credible threats we encounter, and to ensure that every county is ready for this November,” Read said. “Most importantly, we’re making sure that voters know what to expect, so that misinformation doesn’t fill the gaps.”
Secretary of state points to best practices for ballots
Read said he was in touch with the Postal Service to ensure ballots are delivered to Oregonians without any interruption. He said he was in regular communication with their administration “because when someone puts a ballot in a mailbox, they have expectations.”
However, he said he recognized that the Postal Service was in a “tough position” in light of its budget. He urged Oregonians who live more than 50 miles from Portland to consider using a dropbox, location information for which is published 21 days before each statewide election.
That’s because of changes to Postal Service procedures that mean mail will be sent to a hub in Portland and postmarked, then sent to its destination. In recent elections, Oregon voters have been able to trust that a ballot dropped in a mailbox before mail carriers pick up mail on election day would be postmarked that day and therefore counted, but that’s no longer the case.
“There’s hundreds of (dropboxes) across Oregon. That is an even safer, more reliable way because we don’t have to worry about the post office,” he said. “That’ll go directly to the elections office. We’ll make sure that they get counted.”
He said Oregonians who mail their ballots should put their mail in their mailbox by Oct. 27, one week before Election Day. Otherwise, someone can ask their local post office to apply a manual postmark if they aren’t able to make it by then, he said.
State elections officials who receive ballots up to one week after the election will count them if they are postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day. Read said that while he understands that people may want to see results promptly, election officials must verify signatures, allow voters to correct signatures, conduct audits, publicly test voting machines and perform hand counts when necessary. That process should be complete by Dec. 10, according to Read.
He compared the dynamic to prior elections when Oregonians were navigating wildfire season, when county clerks need to mail ballots to people whose houses have burned down.
“We’ll pursue every legal authority that we have. We’ll work with our Department of Justice. We’ll make sure that our county elections officials have a clear understanding of their authorities and what they can do to respond,” Read said. “We’re not taking any of that for granted.”
