The November general election is just eight weeks away. In Oregon, the job of overseeing elections in local, state and federal races falls to Oregon鈥檚 36 county clerks.
But that job has gotten harder in recent years with the spread of disinformation, staffing shortages and budget cuts, along with physical threats and the intimidation of election workers in Oregon and around the nation. In addition, 15 of Oregon鈥檚 county clerks 鈥� or more than a third 鈥� are administering a presidential election for the first time in Oregon. Most of them, however, can draw on prior experience working on elections in the clerk鈥檚 office, including presidential ones, according to Rochelle Long, Klamath County Clerk and the incoming president of the Oregon Association of County Clerks.
In addition to Long, Lane County Clerk Dena Dawson and Harney County Clerk Derrin 鈥淒ag Robinson,鈥� who is also the incoming vice president of the OACC, spoke to 鈥淭hink Out Loud鈥� host Dave Miller about the challenges they鈥檙e facing and the efforts underway to prepare for the general election.
The following highlights from their conversation have been edited for length and clarity.
The difficulty of combating disinformation and misinformation in rural Oregon
Derrin 鈥淒ag鈥� Robinson: 鈥淲e try to post on social media, especially out here in rural Oregon. It鈥檚 one of the best ways we have to get information out. When we put something out that鈥檚 official information from my office regarding elections, what comes underneath of it or behind it becomes a target for more mis- and disinformation. So that becomes a huge problem for us to try to manage 鈥� And so then we try to find another avenue to get the information out 鈥� So a lot of word of mouth and unfortunately, social media is really the only avenue that we have beside our local paper.鈥�
Some county clerks鈥� offices are in 鈥榮urvival mode鈥�
Dena Dawson: 鈥淚 started in July of 2022 and there are nine of us full-time staff for elections and .. seven of us are new to our roles or to elections. And in that time, in addition to having three unscheduled recall elections and multiple district formations, the public records requests were incredibly burdensome for a long period of time. 鈥� We鈥檝e been in a bit of survival mode because a lot of us are new to our roles and we鈥檝e had retirements of folks that were here for 30 years before I got here and a lot of the information and processes were in their head. And so we鈥檙e rebuilding basically every procedure that we touch and we鈥檙e looking at it through the lens of 鈥業s this efficient? Is it compliant with law? How are we going to get these things done?鈥欌��
The emotional toll of being in 鈥榮urvival mode鈥� during elections
Rochelle Long: 鈥淲e鈥檙e in survival mode and so we joke around a lot about, you know, 鈥淲hat fresh hell will today bring?鈥� 鈥� But you just kind of do that I think to get through it all 鈥� There are some days that I think we just do cry because we鈥檙e out of time, we鈥檙e out of people, we鈥檙e out of money. We鈥檙e trying to get this all done and make sure it looks smooth to the voters and it should look smooth to the voters. That鈥檚 what our job is. But there are days where it鈥檚 like I just want to go into a room and scream and then maybe I鈥檒l feel better. So there is really that emotional side of it too that a lot of people don鈥檛 know.鈥�
What it鈥檚 like to try to engage with residents who challenge the integrity of Oregon鈥檚 vote-by-mail system
Dawson: 鈥淭hey鈥檙e literally called 鈥榚lection integrity groups,鈥� and they recruit for concerned citizens who are interested in making sure that the election system and the elections are conducted with integrity. 鈥� So I meet frequently with our local voter integrity group and 鈥� I鈥檝e even reached out to them and said that if they鈥檙e hearing anything or they read something that鈥檚 concerning, to pass it on to me so that I can make sure that I鈥檓 informed. 鈥� So I find that it鈥檚 really helpful for me to, in addition to the alerts that we鈥檙e getting from the Secretary of State鈥檚 office, to just keep my finger on the pulse of what鈥檚 happening. And the group is not always happy with the information that I鈥檓 providing. They may not be hearing what they want to hear, but they are hearing about what our actual process is and what the law allows us to do in Oregon.鈥�
Robinson: 鈥淚 have worked really hard to get those folks into my office to show them how this system works, how the processes work and it matters. .. We all work in one sandbox together, the 36 of us, and we have to do the same thing the same way, all depending upon volume. But the processes are exactly the same. And so having them come in, go through the processes and try to keep it to show the transparency and yet the security at the same time, a lot of them get a lot of comfort from that when you actually see these processes in work and see what we go through to ensure each vote is counted properly, accurately, transparently and securely. They leave feeling really, really good. 鈥� What some of them do say is, 鈥榃ell, I trust you but I don鈥檛 trust them 鈥� I think they鈥檙e still messing with them,鈥� 鈥� I鈥檝e had folks come in and say, 鈥楾his is a great system,鈥� but then I can read (on a Facebook post) that they鈥檙e insistent that the election was stolen. So all you can do is just shake your head and say, 鈥榃ell, it certainly wasn鈥檛 stolen on my watch.鈥欌��
And while there is no such thing as 鈥榓 perfect election,鈥� neither is there widespread election fraud
Robinson: 鈥淭here is not a perfect election 鈥� ever. You have humans involved in it, and we have to do it as accurately as we possibly can and we do it as transparently as we possibly can. And so I never say that there鈥檚 a perfect election because there truly is no such thing. But there certainly is no widespread fraud that has ever been found.鈥�
Dag Robinson, Dena Dawson and Rochelle Long spoke to 鈥淭hink Out Loud鈥� host Dave Miller. Click the player a to listen to the full conversation:
Copyright 2024 Oregon Public Broadcasting