Top Oregon election official responds to Trump speech, explains how votes are counted

Presenter: Oregon’s secretary of state encouraged Oregonians to brag about their best-in-the-nation voting system, and invited them to visit, as he did, Lane County Clerk Tommy Gong. Speaking from Portland Community College July 20, Tobias Read:

Tobias Read (Oregon, secretary of state): For more than a year, the federal government has escalated their attempts to interfere with how states administer elections. The president’s speech on Thursday made it unmistakably clear: He is once again laying the groundwork to dispute the results of the election if he doesn’t like the outcome.

As Oregon’s secretary of state and chief election official, my job is to protect Oregon’s election results to defend the rule of law and to make sure that every eligible Oregonian can vote, that their vote is counted. 

So today I want to go over the attacks that we’ve seen so far, what we’re doing to protect Oregon’s elections and what Oregon voters should expect this fall.

Shortly after taking office, the Trump administration eliminated the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. It’s known as CISA. A federal agency had the sole responsibility of supporting election security across the country. Support for that agency has not been brought back.

Despite the president’s recent claims that election security is a priority, we all know that actions speak louder than words and you don’t strengthen election security by firing the people who are charged with defending it.

Then came the president’s first executive order, attempting to rewrite election law from the White House.

Had it taken effect, thousands—if not millions—of eligible American citizens could have been prevented from voting simply because they lacked certain documents. 

Starting last summer, federal agencies began demanding that states hand over sensitive voter information beyond what is publicly available, and then they sued any states who refused.

This year, the pressure has intensified. 2026 began with a ransom note from then-Attorney General  Pam Bondi to Minnesota, saying in part that the violence against the people of that state would stop if they simply handed over their private voter data.

And the FBI raided the Fulton County Georgia Elections Office, which is of course a regular target of the president’s political attacks. And a Trump advisor said that they’re considering sending ICE to polling places. That would be illegal.

In March, the president issued another executive order attempting to use the postal service to control which Americans get mail ballots and which Americans do not.

And finally, we come to this month. First, the U.S. Department of Justice informed states that they were preparing to arrest election workers this fall.

Then the president removed every member of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission, the independent agency responsible for certifying voting equipment, supporting election security, and helping states administer elections.

On Thursday, the president used a prime-time speech from the White House to repeat false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election that have already been investigated and litigated and disproven.

Remember, his own administration said in 2020 that that election was the most secure in history, that election infrastructure was not infiltrated, and no votes were ever changed.

On Friday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued direct threats saying that elections officials will pay the price if they do not cooperate with the administration’s unlawful attempts to meddle in American elections.

Taken one by one, these actions are concerning, to say the least. Taken together, they paint a clear picture. This is not about improving elections. It’s about putting political pressure on the people responsible for administering them.

This is about making it harder for American citizens to vote. It’s about casting doubt on any election results that the president doesn’t like.

The United States of America is still a country of laws, and the Constitution is clear: States run elections. And in Oregon, that is exactly what we are going to continue doing.

We will defend our election workers. We will protect Oregonians’ private voter data. We will safeguard our election infrastructure. We will continue to use every legal tool available to us to protect Oregon’s authority to administer free and fair elections.

Over the past 18 months, our office has worked with Oregon’s attorney general to block both unlawful executive orders.

We successfully defended Oregonians private voter information in federal court.

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.

Most importantly, we’re making sure that voters know what to expect so that misinformation doesn’t fill the gaps.

So I want to go over what to expect, how things are going to work between now and the November election and what Oregonians need to know about each one of those steps of the process.

Believe it or not, we are less than two months away from the first ballots going out to voters.

By Sept. 19, all military and overseas ballots will be printed and mailed to those registered Oregon voters. In-state Oregonians should start checking their mailboxes in early October for their voters’ pamphlets so they can start researching their choices.

Remember, participation in the voter’s pamphlet is voluntary, so if you don’t see a candidate or a measure included, that’s because their information wasn’t submitted. The deadline to register to vote or to make changes to your registration is Oct. 13, so every Oregon voter should check their registration to make sure that it is current before that date.

Ballots will be mailed to Oregon voters starting on Oct. 14. We’re working closely with the U.S. Postal Service to make sure that that process proceeds smoothly and without interference.

Then of course it is time for Oregonians to make their voices heard. And as I’ve said before, my advice is really simple.

Vote early. Complete your ballot as soon as you’re ready. Make sure to sign the envelope and return it using one of Oregon’s secure official drop boxes. That is the most reliable way to make sure that your ballot arrives safely and on time.

If you need to use the mail, put your ballot in the mailbox by Oct. 27. That’s one week before election day.

If you’re mailing closer to election day, then ask your local post office to apply a manual postmark. 

It’s important for people to understand that it’s not as big a deal for those of us in the Portland area. But if you live in really any part of Oregon that’s more than 50 miles from Portland, even if your ballot is just going across town to the elections office, it’s going to come to Portland first for processing and postmarking. And we want people to account for that. 

So that’s why we’re really pushing them to use a drop box, if it’s at all possible, rather than using the mail. And if they do need to use the mail, do it at least a week before Election Day.

Oct. 27 is also the deadline for elections officials to conduct pre-election accuracy testing of their vote tally systems and to post the results.

Ballots of course must be returned or postmarked by 8:00 PM on election day Nov. 3.

A ballot that is received within one week of election day and postmarked by election day will be counted.

On election night unofficial results will begin to appear at oregonvotes.gov after 8 p.m. Final results are certified only after every eligible ballot is counted and every security check and audit is completed.

I know a lot of people are going to want to see final results faster than that, but our job is to get this right, and that takes a lot of careful tireless work from our elections teams.

Between election day and that certification, election officials verify signatures, they allow voters to cure signature issues, they conduct audits, they publicly test those voting machines again, they perform hand counts where required, and they complete every step that is required by Oregon law before certifying the election.

That process is completed by Dec. 10.

So here’s what every Oregonian should remember. Our elections are secure. They are transparent. They are fair. They are administered by public servants who take their responsibilities seriously.

The votes will be counted accurately. The results will reflect the will of Oregon voters. And in our democracy, everyone is expected to accept these lawful results, especially politicians and those with power.

You know, in Oregon you have to prove your citizenship and your identity in order to register to vote. When a ballot comes to you, you have to sign the envelope when it comes back. Those signatures are verified by teams with forensic analysis. The paper ballot then is reviewed by a multipartisan team, people of different political parties to make sure that a voter’s intent is accurately recorded.

It’s then counted by machines that are never, ever connected to the internet. Machines that are tested publicly before and after the election for accuracy. Those ballots are audited. They’re retained so they can be recounted if they need to.

And at every step we’re adding security. We’re adding resilience, we’re adding redundancy, and no one should take my word for it, if they want to go see it, every county clerk I visited, every one of them in person in 2025, welcomes people to come and observe the process and to understand all of these elements that add up to what I think is gold standard for elections.

So I think everyone who is in Oregon who’s had that experience can share that with people they know around the country.

And frankly, I think we would be a better country if more people adopted this system because it makes it work for people who are in, you know, busy, complicated lives in Oregon. You don’t have to stand in line to vote. You don’t have to take time off work or get a babysitter. This is a fundamental principle of a representative democracy, and we ought to be working to make it more convenient for eligible people to vote.

I believe in democracy and I believe in the system that we have in Oregon. So. I’ll talk to anybody about the way we do things, and I hope that this is the kind of conversation we’re going to have between now and then. We’re trying to fill the gaps so that people are not wondering about how things work.

We’re pulling back any curtains. We don’t have any curtains. You can go to the elections office and watch through the window. We’re in person. We want everyone to understand how this works and how their paper ballot, that where they record their choices and their preferences is taken seriously by every one of our county elections officials.

All the people who do that work, they believe in this and we want people to engage. It’s dangerous when people take it for granted. There are too many people in our history who have given up too much, sacrificed too much for us to do anything but take this seriously and give it our all. So I appreciate all of you being here and helping deliver this message, because people are better off when they understand how our system works and they choose to participate. 

We lead the country, but there’s still too many people who are registered who are choosing not to participate. So, I’m on a campaign here. I’m not on the ballot, but I’m on a campaign to make sure that everybody who is eligible chooses to participate.

That’s how we have a better state and better country.

Presenter: That’s Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read speaking at Portland Community College July 20 in response to the president’s address to the nation.