Election Security
Deschutes County Elections goes to great lengths to ensure the security and integrity of the election process for every election. There is inherent security in the vote-by-mail process. Below is a list of some of the processes that ensures its security and integrity.
- As outlined by the Secretary of State’s Office, Oregon’s Automatic Voter Registration System, includes citizenship verification in voter registration. Only those individuals who have provided proof of citizenship when transacting business with the DMV are automatically registered to vote. The voter registration system includes cross checks for voters who have moved, duplicate records and voters who have passed away.
- The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office reported that in 2020, out of millions of votes cast, residents and local elections officials reported 140 instances of potential voter fraud. Of these 140 cases, four cases were referred to the Oregon Department of Justice and two of those are pending resolution.
By comparison, in 2018 there were a total of 84 total reports of voter fraud. Two were referred to the Department of Justice.
A review of the vote by mail system by the state’s Legislative Fiscal Office found from 2000-2019 there were approximately 61 million ballots cast. Of those, 38 criminal convictions of voter fraud were obtained. This amounts to a .00006% rate. For more information visit the Oregon Secretary of State website.
- Unique identifiers are on every ballot return envelope and only one ballot for each voter can be counted. The voter’s signature on the ballot envelope is checked by trained staff against the voter registration signature. If it doesn’t match, the voter is notified and they have 14 days after the election to provide a matching signature. A forged signature can carry a penalty of up to five years in prison as a class C felony.
- Envelopes are carried to tables that are each staffed by temporary elections employees from different political parties. Those temporary staff members separate the envelopes from the ballots inside thus ensuring the secrecy of the ballot.
- The ballot counting system is secured inside an isolated room. It is a stand-alone system that is not connected to the internet.
- Every election, the ballot counting system undergoes a thorough logic and accuracy test consisting of pre-marked ballots. The logic and accuracy test is repeated three times for the public before and after every election. Finally, after each General election, the system is audited by hand using randomly selected precincts and races chosen by the Secretary of State’s Office. The machine counts are compared to the hand counts.
- There are 24-hour motion-activated security cameras in rooms where ballots are stored.
- Any visitor to Deschutes County Elections must be escorted by an elections employee at all times.
