The short delays county clerks in Douglas and Lincoln counties experienced were caused by a 鈥渕iscommunication鈥� with postal workers and were fixed by Friday morning. State elections director Molly Woon told the Capital Chronicle that the short delays were not going to affect ballot returns and certainly wouldn鈥檛 affect voters鈥� ability to cast ballots securely and safely.
鈥淭his is an issue very, very limited in scope that we were able to fix within 24 hours,鈥� Woon said. 鈥淚t was simply a miscommunication on the part of USPS, and once we talked to the statewide USPS folks, they were able to send a message down to local post offices, 鈥業f you鈥檙e doing this, stop,鈥� and then we were back in business.鈥�
The issue normally wouldn鈥檛 have drawn public attention. But late Wednesday, ahead of a scheduled meeting with election officials and USPS supervisors, House Republican Leader Jeff Helfrich sent a press release erroneously claiming 鈥減otentially thousands of ballots have been held from election offices.鈥� He went on to claim that two recent election laws, which he referred to as 鈥淒emocrat-passed laws鈥� were to blame for any delays.
A , introduced by then-Democratic Gov. Kate Brown and Republican Secretary of State Dennis Richardson and supported by members of both parties in the Legislature, requires the state to pay for postage for ballot return envelopes. A , which also passed the House with some Republican votes, allows ballots that arrive up to a week after Election Day to be counted as long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day.
Ballots affected by the delay made it to county election offices the same day they arrived at post offices; some in Lincoln and Douglas counties were just delayed by a few hours. Douglas County Clerk Dan Loomis said he was told new employees at the Roseburg post office were confused about how to count pre-paid ballot envelopes. It meant he ended up collecting ballots from the office around mid-afternoon instead of in the morning, as he typically does.
On Wednesday, Loomis flagged the delays he was experiencing in an email to other county clerks, and the president of the Oregon Association of County Clerks contacted the Secretary of State鈥檚 Office. State and county election officials held a conference call with USPS supervisors Thursday morning, the postal service sent updated instructions to its employees, and by Friday, Loomis was able to pick up the day鈥檚 ballots a little before 10 a.m.
鈥淭he problem is solved as far as I understand,鈥� Loomis said. 鈥淭here were never ballots being held back or held on to, it was just a matter of they had to improve their practice of how to account for how many they received, so that they can bill the state properly.鈥�
Woon said she plans to have another meeting with local election officials and USPS after the May 21 election is certified this summer to discuss any improvements ahead of the November general election. She鈥檚 concerned that USPS employees in Oregon have heard conflicting messages from their national headquarters.
State election officials were blindsided by Helfrich鈥檚 press release, as neither he nor anyone else within the House Republican office had reached out to election officials with questions before making those claims. He followed up Friday with a second release and a letter to House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, asking that Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade address the House Rules Committee during a May meeting.
鈥淯nless I hear a specific plan to prevent similar delays, I find it hard to blindly have the same 鈥榗omplete faith鈥� in the vote-by-mail system,鈥� Helfrich wrote.
Helfrich did not return a phone call from the Capital Chronicle, instead having House Republican caucus spokesman Cole Avery call on his behalf. Avery confirmed that House Republicans didn鈥檛 reach out to the Secretary of State鈥檚 Office before sending the initial press release claiming the state鈥檚 election system was vulnerable.
He dismissed questions about whether Helfrich had any concerns about making claims about elections security without first having all the relevant information. in recent have found that close to half of Republican voters in Oregon doubt that elections are fair and secure.
鈥淲e called for transparency because there are concerns about the integrity of our elections,鈥� Avery said. 鈥淲e felt that the best thing to do would be for the secretary鈥檚 office to come out in full public view and say, here are where the issues were, here鈥檚 how we fix it, here鈥檚 how it鈥檚 not going to happen again, but instead, what we get from the Secretary of State is, 鈥榃e were told it was going to be fixed. Here鈥檚 the link to OPB.鈥� That is ridiculous. So you want to talk about transparency, go ask the secretary of state when they鈥檙e going to be transparent about these issues.鈥�
Woon said the Secretary of State鈥檚 office didn鈥檛 believe a minor delay in transferring ballots from post offices to county elections offices 鈥� a problem, she stressed, that was fixed within 24 hours 鈥� was worth notifying the public.
鈥淧art of what we do at the Secretary of State鈥檚 office and elections is we solve problems for county clerks, and if we sent a press release out every time we helped solve a problem, everyone would get pretty sick of that pretty quickly,鈥� she said.
Oregonians who have questions or concerns about whether their ballots have been received and accepted can use the on the Secretary of State鈥檚 website, sign up for text alerts in larger counties that use them or call their county clerk鈥檚 office to confirm. Once the primary election is over, many clerks also offer tours of election facilities and answer questions for voters.
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