While recent efforts by President Donald Trump to limit voting ahead of the midterm elections likely won’t impact Oregon’s primary next month, election officials on the coast say they are seeing confusion among voters.
Recently, Clatsop County Clerk Tracie Krevanko fielded calls from people who seem unsure about what efforts by the Trump administration have gone into effect and what is and isn’t allowed.
She expects she could see more of that going into November’s general election.
Many expected this year’s midterms to be heightened — after Trump won reelection and Republicans gained the House and the Senate. And recent orders and proposals have raised the temperature even higher.
“The atmosphere is a lot more active … this midterm than in another midterm,” Krevanko said. “You can tell by the number of filings.”
An executive order Trump signed earlier this week would restrict mail-in voting and create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters. Experts say the order is likely unconstitutional and state leaders, including Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, say they plan to challenge the order.
A lawsuit seeking to strike down the order was filed in a Washington D.C. federal court on Wednesday and includes top Democrats in Congress as plaintiffs.
There is also the stalled Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act, which would require people to have photo identification in order to cast a ballot and would largely eliminate mail-in voting.
Democrats and voting rights advocates say the act and Trump’s recent order will disenfranchise millions of citizens, create significant burdens and higher costs for state and local governments and could create additional obstacles for rural voters, among other things.
Pushing back against the recent executive order, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said in a statement that Oregonians have successfully voted by mail for decades.
He called the executive order a “desperate last-ditch effort by a failing president to suppress American votes.” He said Trump’s war in Iran and the impacts his administration’s policies have had on healthcare are going to lose him the midterms.
However, the Oregon Republican Party argues the order strengthens verification processes and improves coordination between federal and state systems.
Connie Whelchel, chair of the Oregon Republican Party, called directives in the executive order “commonsense safeguards that reinforce what is already federal law.”
“Ensuring that only eligible citizens participate in federal elections should be a nonpartisan priority,” she said in a statement.
Oregon will hold primary elections on May 19.
In Tillamook County, this will include a race for a position on the Tillamook County Board of Commissioners and for the Tillamook Bay Fire & Rescue Rural Fire Protection District.
In Clatsop County, there are races for three open seats on the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners.
This week, Krevanko and her staff are mailing out ballots for military and overseas voters and preparing to test voting machines to make sure everything is properly calibrated ahead of the primary. They are also beginning to stock up on important supplies like envelopes for November’s general election.
In recent primary elections in Clatsop County, around 45% of ballots were received through the mail and 55% through drop boxes. In the November general elections, the split has been closer to approximately 35% of ballots sent through the mail and 65% through drop boxes.
Krevanko said the county strives for transparency during elections, providing a livestream on YouTube while election workers process ballots. Other views are available to people on-site.
“We’re an open book,” Krevanko said. “You can come in and ask questions. You can get a quick tour if we’re not super busy.”
Official ballots for the May 19 primary will start to go out in the mail for Tillamook County and Clatsop County voters at the end of April.