Elections officials in Northeast Oregon say they and their colleagues across the state are serious about election security.

“Oregon county clerks have had much training on election integrity, and we feel confident that we run a safe and secure election,” Wallowa County Clerk Sandy Lathrop said.

Lathrop said all county clerks have to submit a security plan each year, and the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division has to approve the plan before a county can hold an election. Oregon election law and the state’s vote-by-mail manual also govern clerks in each of the state’s 36 counties.

She also said Wallowa County has an election board made up of county employees of various party affiliations in accordance with the manual.

“All board members have passed background checks and have given oaths to uphold election laws,” she said. “Security training is being conducted prior to ballot opening to prepare our team in the event of ballot tampering or any onsite physical threats. This is in accordance with direction from the Oregon Elections Division.”

Grant County Clerk Laurie Cates said only authorized personnel are allowed to retrieve ballots from ballot boxes. And the ballot boxes stay locked until they’re opened by authorized personnel.

“Every signature is scanned and verified by trained personnel within the clerk’s office to ensure they match the signature on file for the voter,” Cates explained. “The scanning process also records that the ballot was received in the clerk’s office.”

Vote tally machines undergo testing and verification three times to ensure accuracy, Cates said, and the devices are never connected to the internet.

“Access to the machine is tightly restricted,” she said. “Post-election reviews are conducted to confirm results. We also have election observers from different political parties who watch ballot processing via video feed during the election.”

Union County Clerk Lisa Feik echoed her colleagues’ confidence in Oregon’s election process.

“We do not have electronic voting machines, and our ballot tabulation machines are not connected to the internet nor do they have routers for Wi-Fi,” she said. “The one thing I like is Oregon has paper ballots and the results can be proved, everything needs to match. We also do hand counts to certify our results.”

Voter registration up a bit

Tuesday, April 30, is the cutoff to register to vote in the May 21 primary, and voter registration is up a bit in Northeast Oregon and the rest of the state.

Oregon in April had more than 3.03 million registered voters, according to the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division. That’s an increase of about 1% from April 2023.

In Northeast Oregon, Baker, Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Wallowa counties have all gained voters since April 2023. Grant County is the outlier with 5,541 voters, the same total as a year ago.

Baker County has 13,008 registered voters as of April, 0.63% more than the same time last year. Wallowa County has 6,438, an increase of 0.78%

Morrow and Umatilla counties have increases of more than 2% from last year, with 7,265 registered voters now in Morrow County and 50,499 in Umatilla County.

Union County was closer to the state average with an increase of 1.08% to bring its total for April to 19,434.

The six counties have 37,769 registered Republicans and 16,400 registered Democrats. But nonaffiliated voters take the top spot, with 41,270. Nonaffiliated voters outnumber Democrats in each of the six counties, and in Morrow and Umatilla counties they also outnumber Republicans, with 3,254 nonaffiliated voters in Morrow County and 23,252 in Umatilla County.

Statewide, nonaffiliated voters outnumber all other groups, with a total of 1,110,725. Democrats are in second place with 994,493, and Republicans are in third, with 722,216 voters.

Counties and the state Elections Division post results on election night on their websites.

“These totals will change prior to election certification date to allow for additional ballot count received from other counties and postmark law,” Lathrop said.

Ballot boxes secure as well

Armed groups in 2022 showed up to watch ballot boxes in Arizona’s largest county. Northeast Oregon county clerks said that has not occurred on their watches, and they take security seriously at ballot drop boxes.

Wallowa County has 16 security cameras inside and outside the courthouse and cameras on ballot boxes for security, and law enforcement will have a presence on Election Day.

“We are not anticipating trouble, but we will be prepared if any occurs,” Lathrop said.

Cates in Grant County said armed residents monitoring drop boxes would not be necessary “because we have trained law enforcement personnel near our two ballot boxes.”

One ballot box is in the courthouse in Canyon City, and available during business hours. The other is a 24-hour drop site outside the sheriff’s office, and the buildings are next to each other. She also said jail staff monitor the ballot boxes via video 24 hours a day.

Feik, the Union County clerk, said on election night the county has representation at each box.

“Law enforcement picks up our ballot boxes as well,” she said. “If there were any disruption at the ballot drop sites, law enforcement would be contacted and they would monitor or take action on the activity.”

Voter registration by the numbers

Baker County

April 2023 — 12,926

April 2024 — 13,008

Republicans: 5,783

Nonaffiliated: 4,458

Democrats: 1,838

Independent: 735

Grant County

April 2023 — 5,541

April 2024 — 5,541

Republicans: 2,736

Nonaffiliated: 1,663

Democrats: 755

Independent: 308

Morrow County

April 2023 — 7,107

April 2024 — 7,265

Nonaffiliated: 3,254

Republicans: 2,484

Democrats: 1,057

Independent: 312

Umatilla County

April 2023 — 49,232

April 2024 — 50,499

Nonaffiliated: 23,252

Republicans: 15,730

Democrats: 8,259

Independent: 2,142

Union County

April 2023 — 19,226

April 2024 — 19,434

Republicans: 8,132

Nonaffiliated: 6,715

Democrats: 3,285

Independent: 980

Wallowa County

April 2023 — 6,388

April 2024 — 6,438

Republicans: 2,904

Nonaffiliated: 1,928

Democrats: 1,206

Independent: 306

Oregon

April 2023 — 3,001,102

April 2024 — 3,032,333

Nonaffiliated: 1,110,725

Democrats: 994,493

Republicans: 722,216

Independen: 143,868

Democrats, Republicans, nonaffiliated and Independent voters are not the only voters in Oregon. Numerous smaller political groups also are part of the county and state totals for voters. For more information about voting, visit the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division online at shorturl.at/nA013.

Source: Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division