Oregon elections office shuts down phone lines amid false info surrounding Trump, voters' pamphlet

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Oregon Elections Division is shutting down its phone lines after the system was "overwhelmed" by out-of-state callers responding to false information about why Donald Trump is not in the Oregon Voters' Pamphlet.

While social media rumors are making false election interference claims, the decision for Trump to not appear in the pamphlet was made by the Trump campaign, the Oregon Secretary of State's office said Thursday.

According to the office, the campaign did not submit a statement or pay the required $3,500 in order to appear in the pamphlet.

“Oregonians who need assistance will now have to wait because some individuals operating in bad faith are misleading people online,” Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade said. “We need to do more as a country to discourage this kind of behavior. Spreading rumors and false claims of election interference does nothing to help Oregonians.”

Even though the phone lines are shut down, officials said Oregon voters can still leave voicemails or email the Elections Division.

Laura Kerns, the communications director for the Oregon Secretary of State's office told KOIN 6 News, "According to Elections staff, they can say with 100% certainty that nothing like this has happened in the last 10 years. We sometimes are on the receiving end of campaigns that attempt to change a decision we've made, but it hasn’t escalated to the point where people are threatening violence against our workers on the calls."

Kerns said the office has notified law enforcement about the calls as some were threatening or abusive.

The announcement comes after the Secretary of State's office responded to a post on X -- formerly Twitter -- last week, explaining why a statement from the former president is not in the pamphlet.

“The Trump campaign chose not to participate. It was not an omission by officials. Trump/Vance will still be on your ballot,” the Oregon Secretary of State’s office wrote.

The response on X included a link to the Oregon Republican Party’s website addressing the topic on April 26, 2024, ahead of the May primary election.

On the website, the party said, “Many people are wondering why no campaign statement from former President Donald J. Trump was included in the Oregon Voters’ Pamphlet which arrived in Oregonians’ mailboxes this week. The decision not to submit a statement for the voter’s pamphlet was made by the Trump campaign earlier this year.”

In September, KOIN 6 News reported that the Trump/Vance campaign did not submit an optional statement or pay the required $3,500 for candidates to appear in the state’s pamphlet.

Kerns previously told KOIN 6 News they reached out to the Trump campaign multiple times reminding the campaign about the deadline to submit the statement and fee, but never heard back.

The Secretary of State's office told KOIN 6 News last week they were receiving a high volume of calls questioning why Trump was not in the pamphlet.

“Our office, and county elections offices, have received high call volume, social media posts, and emails related to former President Donald Trump’s decision not to submit a voter pamphlet statement. There are a lot of inaccurate and false narratives on social media related to the voters’ pamphlet that led to escalated calls with some hostile callers,” Kerns said.

She added, “It is unfortunate that frontline election workers are receiving the brunt of these calls, especially at a time with heightened threats and intimidation against election workers and the election process.”

In Thursday's announcement, the Secretary of State's office reminded community members that under Oregon law, it is a crime to harass or threaten election workers while they are working or because they did their job.

Randall Blazak is an expert in extremism who is part of Cure PNW, a non-partisan non-profit that tracks and works to reduce political violence. He said the recent harassment is a serious issue.

"We're speaking with election workers about what their vulnerabilities are, and if tensions arise, how to deescalate those situations," Blazak said. "The people that are working in this field, the election workers, are often retired people, volunteers, people that are just working their political jobs who come from different backgrounds."

The Oregon Secretary of State's Office said they are working with state and federal law enforcement to track down the offenders. They're expecting to have the phone lines up and running on Friday.