On the eve of Oregon鈥檚 primary election, a group of Republican candidates and election deniers learned they won鈥檛 get to make their case to the U.S. Supreme Court to end Oregon鈥檚 mail voting system.
The high court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from plaintiffs, including state Sen. Dennis Linthicum, the leading Republican candidate for secretary of state, in a case that sought to overturn the method Oregon voters have used to vote in every election for decades.
The Supreme Court didn鈥檛 give a reason for declining to hear the case, Thielman v. Fagan. Marc Thielman, a former school superintendent who captured 8% of the vote in his sixth-place finish in the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary, led several other Republicans in suing then-Secretary of State Shemia Fagan in October 2022.
Current Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, appointed after Fagan鈥檚 2023 resignation, welcomed the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision in a statement to the Capital Chronicle.
鈥淏oth the rulings from the District Court and the Ninth Circuit got it right: Oregon鈥檚 vote by mail system is the gold standard with no widespread voter fraud to speak of,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 very pleased to see the Supreme Court leave the lower courts鈥� ruling in place.鈥�
The claimed 鈥� without providing any evidence 鈥� that Oregon voters have been disenfranchised by 鈥渧oting anomalies.鈥� The bulk of the suit rested on 鈥�2,000 Mules,鈥� a 2022 film from far-right commentator Dinesh D鈥橲ouza that purported to show that people in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin delivered multiple ballots to drop boxes. The film doesn鈥檛 include Oregon, and election experts its claims.
They sought injunctions blocking Oregon from using mail voting and preventing ballots from being counted by tabulation machines, which are faster and more reliable than hand counting. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman last summer, that 鈥済eneralized grievances鈥� about the state鈥檚 election system didn鈥檛 give Thielman, Linthicum and others standing to sue.
Ninth Circuit decision
A three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Beckerman鈥檚 ruling in December. Judges Marsha Berzon, Jacqueline Nguyen and Eric D. Miller wrote that the case resembled a recent Ninth Circuit ruling rejecting arguments from 2022 Arizona Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake speculating that the state鈥檚 election system was vulnerable.
鈥淧laintiffs do not allege that their votes were not counted, nor do they identify with sufficient particularity how any given election in Oregon was fraudulently manipulated through the vote-by-mail or computerized tabulation systems,鈥� the panel wrote. 鈥淚ndeed, plaintiffs concede that they do not know whether Oregon elections are fraudulently manipulated at all. Plaintiffs allege only that they suffer a 鈥榗risis of confidence鈥� in Oregon鈥檚 voting systems, which is the same 鈥榮peculative鈥� grievance that we found insufficient to confer standing in Lake.鈥�
Like Lake in Arizona, several of the Oregon plaintiffs were unsuccessful candidates. Thielman lost his gubernatorial bid, Ben Edtl and Sandra Nelson lost legislative races and Diane Rich and Pam Lewis lost local elections in Coos County. Linthicum, Edtl and Nelson will appear on Republican ballots again this year, with Edtl and Nelson running for the state House and Linthicum running for secretary of state, the office in charge of running elections.
Stephen Joncus, an attorney for the plaintiffs, called the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision 鈥渧ery disappointing,鈥� and said he鈥檒l continue fighting against Oregon鈥檚 electoral system.
鈥淰ote by mail is an abomination, and we will fight it every possible way we can,鈥� he said.
A survey conducted shortly before the 2022 election found that of Oregonians consider their state the best or one of the best in the country at running elections, while 69% of all Oregon voters 鈥� and 49% of Republican voters 鈥� said they were confident in the safety, integrity and accuracy of voting by mail.
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