The Oregon Republican Party (ORP) sounded the alarm late Monday night about a Clatsop County elections clerk who stacked key oversight positions with non-Republicans. Rural Oregon likely won’t make a difference in the presidential race, but several key statewide races that are close in the polls going into Election Day could be affected.
The ORP released the following statement:
“It was brought to our attention in the past couple of days that Republican volunteers have been excluded as election workers from the Clatsop County Election Office Signature Verification and Drop Box Collection boards by County Elections Clerk Tracie Krevanko, even though Republican volunteers had been added to the ballot counting boards,” said Oregon Republican Party Communications Director Kevin Hoar. “We contacted Ms. Krevanko to request that Republican volunteers be added to these boards, but our request was denied.”
Sixty percent of the Signature Verification and Drop Box Collection Boards consist of Democrats and zero Republicans. Clatsop County is one of the counties that comprises the highly contested open seat House District 32 race between Republican/Independent Mayor of Tillamook Suzanne Weber and Democrat Debbie Boothe-Schmidt. Clatsop is also considered a swing county in the very competitive races for the statewide offices of Secretary of State and State Treasurer.
The ORP went on to say that emails show that Krevanko planned on having no citizen participation in poll-watching at all, contrary to requirements published by the Secretary of State’s office. “According to correspondence with the Clatsop County Clerk,” the ORP said, “Krevanko had initially planned to exclude all citizen participation in the election’s process as mandated by the Secretary of State’s Vote By Mail manual, until required to do by the Clatsop County Manager, Don Bohn, after statements of concern from Clatsop County constituents.”
Oregon Business Owner Says State Forces Him to Discriminate Against Certain Customers
The ORP says it is looking into legal remedies for this action by the county elections clerk. Correspondence between the ORP, its counsel, the clerk’s office, and the county’s legal counsel indicate the county may be sidestepping its responsibility to ensure that no bias exists in the assignments of temporary poll-watching employees.
Jeff Reynolds is the author of the book, “Behind the Curtain: Inside the Network of Progressive Billionaires and Their Campaign to Undermine Democracy,” available at www.WhoOwnsTheDems.com. Jeff hosts a podcast at anchor.fm/BehindTheCurtain. You can follow him on Twitter @ChargerJeff, and on Parler at @RealJeffReynolds.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member