Oregon Republicans running for secretary of state, vote-by-mail, back claims of voter fraud • Oregon Capital Chronicle

Three Oregon Republicans running to control the state’s elections have all fueled false claims of voter fraud and indicated they want to end Oregon’s decades-old tradition of holding elections by mail.

State Sen. Dennis Linthicum, Beaverton real estate broker Brent Barker and Salem business analyst Tim McCloud are vying for their party’s nomination for secretary of state, an open position as secretary of state appointee LaVonne Griffin-Valade chose not to seek a full mandate. It is the only office Republicans have won this century: Dennis Richardson was elected in 2016 and served until his death in 2019.

Barker attended an interview. McCloud responded to a questionnaire sent to all candidates, but did not respond to interview requests. Linthicum did neither.

Brent Barker

Barker placed fourth in the seven-way nonpartisan primary for Bureau of Labor and Industries commissioner in 2022 and was the first Republican to enter the race for secretary of state this year. His platform includes wiping out the state’s voter rolls and forcing all voters to re-register to vote.

“It’s better to start from scratch and clean it up, much less expensive, and start over,” he said.

Barker also wants to eliminate mail-in elections and require most voters to cast their ballots in person, with exceptions for military voters and “elderly populations.” He said he wants to make Election Day a public holiday, giving government employees the day off and giving tax credits to private employers if they give their employees the day off. The Secretary of State lacks the power to make any of these changes without action by the Legislature or voters.

He said he wants to increase post-election audits, although county clerks and the secretary of state already conduct routine audits of ballot equipment and ballots. Barker couldn’t say what would be different under his command.

“I think these officials you’re referring to, with all intents and purposes, I think they have the best information, but there’s a whole group of Oregonians who don’t think their voices are heard, and more importantly, they feel their voices are missing of rights,” he said.

He hasn’t talked to county clerks about how they run elections or visited election offices, though he said he would consider it. Barker said he supports the new campaign finance limits passed by the Legislature this year and voted for Measure 113, the constitutional amendment against the gerrymandering that cost Linthicum and nine other senators their jobs.

When it comes to state agencies and programs to audit, Barker said he will first look at agencies that appear to be out of line with the Legislature’s wishes.

“The Legislature sets standards,” he said. “You just have to make sure the wishes of the Legislature are met, regardless of department. Those desires must be fulfilled.”

Dennis Linthicum

Linthicum, 68, is one of 10 Republican senators barred from running for another term because he participated in a six-week walkout to deny the quorum to protest laws on abortion, health care transgender and gun control. He recruited his wife, Diane, to run in his place in the Southern Oregon Senate district this year.

During his two terms in the Senate, Linthicum has consistently been one of the farthest-right members of the Republican caucus. He has introduced several unsuccessful bills to ban abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, prohibit businesses or the government from requiring employees to receive COVID-19 vaccines, and limit the ability of schools to require students to receive routine childhood immunizations.

Linthicum has been a plaintiff in several unsuccessful state and federal lawsuits challenging the state’s handling of the COVID pandemic and elections. A federal judge threw out one of those lawsuits last summersaying “broadcast complaints” from Linthicum and other Republicans didn’t give them standing to sue in a case that sought to end Oregon’s vote-by-mail system and electronic ballot tabulation .

In a February 2023 newsletter, Linthicum described Oregon’s vote-by-mail system as “the gold standard for electoral engineering” and accused Democrats of escalating a “progressive highway to unprecedented voter fraud” by enacting laws designed to expand voter access. including allowing late-arriving ballots to be counted if postmarked by Election Day and expanding online voter registration to people without state-issued ID.

In a January newsletter, he also claimed that “people, not necessarily citizens, can vote using a centralized, non-transparent black box, using mail-in ballots, without just a signature to validate the authenticity of the vote.” . In fact, all voters must certify that they are a citizen in order to register to vote.

His platform for Secretary of State includes endorsing voting by mail and requiring voters to vote in person at local precincts while showing photo ID. He voted against the campaign finance law passed this year, which he is expected to implement as secretary of state.

Most of the more than $200,000 that Linthicum raised during this election came in the form of legal expenses for his challenge to his disqualification as a senator, which were covered by a fundraising committee of more than $165,000.

Tim McCloud

McCloud ran for governor in 2022, placing 10th in a 19-candidate Republican primary. For the secretary of state race, he has not reported raising or spending money, does not have a campaign website, and has not filed a state-issued voter pamphlet statement.

In response to a questionnaire sent to all candidates, he said his business experience, as well as his four years on the Albany Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission and year on the Linn County Board of Compensation give him the experience to to lead the secretary of state. Office. He added that he has no ties to foreign or special interests and that would help him avoid conflicts of interest.

He said he would restore confidence in the agency by addressing all outstanding election-related complaints and “reviewing the entire voter system for possible vulnerabilities.” McCloud blamed former secretaries of state Shemia Fagan and Kate Brown for having “significant ethical concerns,” though he did not elaborate on his complaints against Brown, who went on to serve as governor from 2015 to 2023.

McCloud said he plans to end the bureau’s use of artificial intelligence to help flag threats and election disinformation posted online. He also said he wants to open in-person voting centers, which he described as a common sense measure to secure the electoral process.