Get to Know Your County Clerk - They're Protecting Our Elections

Clerks like Christine Walker know our election system inside and out; they're confident it's accurate and trustworthy.

I have 100% confidence that the November 2020 Presidential Election in Jackson County was conducted according to law and that the election was fair and accurate.

Christine Walker, Jackson County Clerk

Donald Trump said that elections that include mail-in voting are a "disaster." He called them "a whole big scam." He tweeted that the 2020 election, which heavily featured such voting, would be the "most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history." He said that if we got rid of mailed ballots there would be a peaceful continuation of power, because he could then respect the voters' choice—and, of course, because he would win.

Oregon runs elections exactly the way Trump said was the worst of the worst, with universal mail-in voting, with ballots sent automatically to all registered voters. The elections are administered by Oregon's counties under rules created by the State Legislature.

In Jackson County, Christine Walker oversees the County’s elections as the elected County Clerk. She is no stranger to elections nor to partisan manuevers to try to win them. Initially appointed to the position in 2008, Walker has been re-elected on three occasions. She also serves on a variety of professional boards and associations that involve election supervision. So, for more than a decade as well as during this most recent election, Walker has a front row seat to checking fake ballots, reviewing forged signatures, and watching for electronic vote switching that could distort the results of the election.

Walker has some partisan political roots as a Republican, but the office is non-partisan and she operates it accordingly.

It matters that local County Clerks like Christine Walker stand by the election.

I have 100% confidence that the November 2020 Presidential Election in Jackson County was conducted according to law and that the election was fair and accurate. The County Clerk is the voice and will of the people through the election process and I do not take that responsibility lightly. We conduct elections in a transparent manner, allowing every qualified voter the ability to access/cast a ballot without barriers. We will continue to have an open dialogue with election officials, stakeholders and the public we serve as to provide greater confidence and dispel disinformation and misinformation pertaining to conducting elections around the country.

In that summary and in response to several other questions, Walker addressed some of the areas where election skeptics have claimed fraud could take place. For example, ballots are returned by mail or into drop boxes. Could hundreds, perhaps thousands of fake ballots have been quietly added to the inflow? Her answer? No. In a long interview with me she explained that every ballot that is returned comes in a bar-coded envelope with a signature attestation and every ballot that is mailed to a bar-coded voter and address. The County does not receive or accept anonymous ballots--only ballots that match the records of ballots printed and sent out by the county. There is no opportunity to "stuff" a ballot box. 

Are signatures checked? Yes. "Every single signature is checked," she said. They are checked by people at three different stages of experience. Some signatures are easy to match, based on the signature on file at registration plus the signatures from ballots from previous elections. Questionable ones go to a second team, again one that has access to previous signatures on file. A third team of highly experienced people examine ballots not resolved at the earlier levels. 

How are questionable signatures handled? Thoroughly. About one percent of the 123,000 ballots cast here in Jackson County have questions and problems that require follow-up contact by the Election Department of the Clerk's office. Voters have a chance to remedy questionable signatures and identity, and if the ballots were legally cast before 8:00 p.m. on Election Day, per Oregon law the vote will be counted if the questions are resolved within two weeks. In the November 2020 election 1,245 ballots required Clerk office contact with the voter, and 871 people did not successfully remedy the questions. Those votes were not counted. Walker said 334 ballots were mailed or dropped off with no signature on the ballot, and therefore required Clerk office contact. Of those, 204 did not successfully remedy by supplying a valid signature, and were not counted.

Are deceased individuals deciding elections? No. The Clerk's office reviewed and sent to the Secretary of State's office for further investigation and potential referral for prosecution 14 ballots, of which four were signed on behalf of people who were known to be deceased.

What about forged ballots? Not a problem. Ten ballots were questioned as potential forgeries. A common forgery is for a ballot cast in the name of a voter, but signed by a household member. The forgery is identified because when there is a questionable signature the Clerk's office checks the signatures on file both for that person and for other household members, for which there may be multiple signatures on file from voter registration and from ballots on previous elections. The style of signature sometimes better matches the household member than the person who voted. This is a felony.

Are the votes accurately tabulated? Yes. The counting machines are checked against a test deck of ballots with a known vote count a week prior to the election, and again immediately before the actual tally of ballots. Then, of course, there is an actual physical paper ballot available for a hand count audit if necessary. Rarely, but sometimes, the ballot counting machines show a mis-count of a ballot, shorting a ballot. Walker said that voters sometimes leave sticky residue on ballots after having filled them out on a kitchen table and two ballots stick together when run through the machine. The counts are not accepted until there is one-for-one match between ballots known to be entered and the final tally. 

Is every registered voter a legal voter? County officials will determine as much. Walker said that voters must be identified by driver's license, Social Security number, or other acceptable identification documents proving identity and residence at the time of registration, then votes are cast by people at a known address, signed under penalty of perjury. A non-citizen casting a ballot is not doing so secretly or anonymously. It is trackable back to a specific person at every stage, a huge risk to take for a serious felony offense. 

I asked the status of the 14 ballots referred to the Secretary of State. Walker said she did not know the final disposition. The Oregon Secretary of State does those investigations. The Oregon Department of Justice performs the prosecutions. The Secretary of State's office is doing a status report now and says they will inform me in approximately one week.

Walker has a message of assurance for skeptics of Oregon’s voting system. The system has checks and safeguards, and the people managing the election are up to the task.

Peter Sage is a former Jackson County Commissioner and retired Financial Advisor. He operates a small farm and writes a political blog daily: https://petersage.substack.com