Oregon’s elections are secure, and the state is doing everything it can to resist unconstitutional demands from the Trump administration that undermine state and local elections, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said Monday.
With the primary upcoming, Read hosted an afternoon town hall to address election security concerns alongside Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Association of County Clerks President Dag Robinson and American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon Executive Director Sandy Chung, who moderated the event. More than 550 Oregonians tuned in to the event.
Read said attacks on election integrity began with the Trump administration gutting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the federal agency charged with protecting elections from cyber or foreign interference, followed by executive orders trying to force Americans to prove their citizenship at the polls and coerce states to turn over sensitive voter information.
Oregon’s secretary of state makes case for drop-box voting
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said voters should make a county drop box their first option for returning ballots in the May 19 primary election. Although Read said that utilizing mail service remains a workable option, he believes drop boxes are the more reliable choice this cycle. “We’d love it if they could use…
“I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we’re in some challenging times when it comes to elections right now,” Read said.
The state of Oregon is upholding its duty to resist unconstitutional demands, he said.
“I was in court as a defendant because the U.S. Department of Justice sued when I refused to hand over your private voter data, your driver’s license numbers, social security numbers and your birthdays,” Read said. “The federal judge dismissed that case, and while the federal government is appealing that, we’re going to continue to hold that up.”
Lightning strike more likely than a noncitizen voting, officials say
Merkley spent most of his time during the town hall outlining the Trump’s administration attacks on voting rights, including recent congressional attempts to pass the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act,” also known as the “SAVE Act.” The legislation is framed to secure elections and prevent noncitizens from registering to vote by requiring a birth certificate or passport upon registering to vote.
But that’s not a widespread problem. It’s more likely for a person to get struck by lightning than for non U.S. citizens to vote in the state of Oregon, Merkley said, citing a study conducted by the Legislative Fiscal Office finding that between from 2000 to 2019, there were 38 cases of improper voting out of 61 million ballots cast.
Merkley said the legislation would disenfranchise different groups of people, including college students, low income people who can’t afford a passport, tribal members, rural communities as well as women who have recently married and changed their last name.
“The SAVE Act is not about stopping non citizens from voting,” Merkley said. “It is all about stopping citizens from voting, citizens that the Republican Party and President Trump don’t want to vote.”
The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in February, but stalled on the Senate side because it lacks the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster, a procedural move used by minority legislators to hold up bills.
“We’ve mostly stopped it for now, but we cannot relax our vigilance,” Merkley said.
Ballots by mail must be turned in soon, Secretary of State says
Oregon’s primary is May 19, and voters will need to return their ballots to any dropbox by 8 p.m. or ensure they’re postmarked on or before May 19.
For people turning in their ballots by mail, Read said, Tuesday is the last day he recommends people to turn in their ballots to the mailbox to ensure there are no delays.
Robinson said a regular challenge clerks encounter is people frustrated or misunderstanding the state’s closed primary system.
Oregon has closed primaries, which means voters may only vote for candidates in their same party in primary elections. That means the nearly 1.4 million registered voters that aren’t affiliated with the Republican or Democratic parties can’t vote for major candidates in the primary, but they can still vote for nonpartisan races and on measures.
The Oregon Capital Chronicle has compiled a voter guide with information and responses from gubernatorial, legislative and congressional candidates. The guide also includes responses from the nonpartisan candidates vying to lead Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries and information on Measure 120, a referendum that would allow Oregonians to reject or approve increases to the gas tax, the payroll tax used for public transit and vehicle registration and title fees.
Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com.
