Oregon officials prepare to protect election from armed agents, intimidators

Presenter: Oregon is preparing for a potential vote-by-mail election—without the mail. In adding more physical ballot drop boxes, officials say they are preparing to defend the November election against a wide variety of potential threats—including intimidators and armed agents. Secretary of State Tobias Reed:

Tobias Read (Oregon, secretary of state): This is an important moment for Oregon and for our country, because the right to vote has been a foundational part of our democracy since we declared our independence from a monarch 250 years ago. 

Since then, brave Americans have fought to ensure that all citizens were included in the promise that ‘We the people’ choose our leaders and that our leaders answer to us. Today, that principle is being tested by a federal government that is seeking to control who gets to vote. 

We remain confident that the law and the Constitution are on our side. States run elections, not presidents. And the Postal Service’s job is to deliver the mail, not to decide who gets to vote. Oregonians expect us to be prepared. So today we’re talking about the practical steps we are taking right now.

Presenter:  Gov. Tina Kotek:

Tina Kotek (Oregon, governor): There has been a lot of confusion in the news following attempts by President Trump to thwart how Oregonians and people across the country cast their ballots. We stand united in fighting against these unconstitutional threats, and we stand united for protecting the right to vote.

Presenter: Sen. Ron Wyden:

Ron Wyden (U.S. senator from Oregon): The Trump approach is deliberately crooked and only leads to confusion and unfair elections. The Trump restrictions are clearly not about fraud. They’re about making it harder for everybody to vote. That is especially true in rural Oregon. I just came off seven town hall meetings. They are really concerned about what’s going on in terms of access to vote…

The fact is, we are going to have to keep fighting every single minute from now and through the election, because Donald Trump will go with any kind of strategy that makes it hard for people to vote by mail. My sense is he’ll discombobulate this, make it confusing, make it difficult—all to try to make it less likely people will vote.

Presenter: Sen. Jeff Merkley:

Jeff Merkley (U.S. Senate, senator from Oregon): In a democratic republic, the citizens choose their leaders. But Trump has a different idea. He wants elected leaders—or specifically himself—to choose who gets to vote.

It is a straight-out attack designed to manipulate the coming election. And understand: It’s part of a broader effort to manipulate or rig the coming election.

That broader effort includes the midterm redistricting of our congressional districts to gerrymander the House of Representatives, and we’re very concerned about other efforts that the president and his team have been exploring, perhaps working with secretaries of state in some states to maybe not certify elections.

What about election intimidators? And what about, of course, the Post Office, where we’ve seen executive order after executive order, as well as the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act designed to say the president gets to decide who votes in each state, including in the state of Oregon. Well, we say to that: ‘Hell, no!’

Presenter: The secretary of state indicated he would be seeking funding for more ballot drop boxes. Tobias Reed:

Tobias Read (Oregon, secretary of state): The best tool we have is our network of secure official ballot drop boxes. Oregon currently has 324 drop boxes across the state. We found 20 locations where an additional drop box would fill a significant gap in voters access to the best way to return their ballot. So today, I’m going before the Legislature to request emergency funding to put those drop boxes in place.

I’m also requesting funding for a program called BallotTrax. This system allows voters to track their ballot: when it was sent; when the county receives it on the way back; and when their signature has been verified so their ballot can be counted.

So these are practical steps that we can take right now. We can expand access to drop boxes. We can give voters better information about where their ballot is. We can strengthen our contingency plans, and we can make sure that state and local election officials are ready to act quickly if circumstances change.

That work is already happening. We have emergency systems in place. We’re meeting regularly with our partners in state and local government. We’re coordinating with our federal delegation, and we will continue doing everything we can to hold the Postal Service accountable.

But I want to leave you with this. There’s a lot of uncertainty right now. There are a lot of people who are trying to make voting harder or more confusing. But Oregon is not simply going to sit back and hope for the best. We are going to prepare, we are going to adapt, and we are going to protect every eligible Oregonian’s right to vote.

Our democracy is not something we inherit and simply put on a shelf. We keep it by doing the work.

There are a lot of tools that we are considering and developing and being ready. But things change so quickly with the court action, the federal government’s change, I don’t want to speculate too much and get ahead of myself. But Oregonians should be confident they will get their ballot and they will have the time to vote in the same convenient, secure, accurate and fair way we’ve gotten used to in Oregon.

Presenter: Sen. Ron Wyden:

Ron Wyden (U.S. senator from Oregon): And the reality is Trump wants confusion, right? He wants the maximum amount of bedlam.

Presenter: Officials were asked if Oregon was prepared to physically protect voters and ballots against armed federal agents, and local groups supporting Trump.

Press conference reporter: Is Oregon prepared to physically protect voters and ballots against armed agents and opponents?

Tobias Read (Oregon, secretary of state): Well, it would be illegal, according to federal law, to interfere with someone’s right to vote and to send armed agents to drop boxes or ballot sites.

But this is one of the advantages of our system, because we have those 324 ballot boxes—hopefully more soon—so if you see something as a voter that makes you uncomfortable, you can come back. You can use a different drop box as well.

Presenter: Sen. Wyden:

Ron Wyden (U.S. senator from Oregon): The Secretary of State is saying he’s going to be prepared. (Yes.) He quoted the law, which gives us a foundation for dealing with what you’re talking about. And then we have some other steps.

Presenter: Sen. Merkley:

Jeff Merkley (U.S. senator from Oregon): Under federal law now, it says ‘armed federal agents.’ Well, we’re very concerned about the president using any term of nuance to try to escape the intent of that law. 

What does it mean to be armed? What if he sends so-called ‘unarmed’ federal intimidators? Our federal law doesn’t address that. It’s one of the things that’s in my ‘For Our Republic Act‘ is to expand the definition and expand it from polling places to places where ballots are dropped off, to places where ballots are counted. 

Certainly the whole intent of the federal law is to say: ‘Sending intimidators is absolutely unacceptable in a democratic republic. It’s something done in authoritarian states across the world, where elections are essentially a decoration to protect an authoritarian strongman state.’ 

So we are concerned about the possibility of Trump doing things, either in direct violation of the law, or that skirt the law…

The reason we are so confident in the courts on this is the Constitution is so clear. (Yes.)  It says explicitly that the time, place, and manner of elections is delegated to the states or to the U.S. legislature. 

There is absolutely no precedent and no language in the Constitution that supports a president being able to change the elections through an executive order. That’s the source of our confidence.

Ron Wyden (U.S. senator from Oregon): And I agree with Sen. Merkley, every word. But we’re still going to be vigilant every single minute because we know Donald Trump has no respect for rules.

Presenter: Oregonians are preparing to fight in the courts and in the streets to protect the U.S. Constitution and the right to vote.