Guardrails are needed to restore trust and prevent election debacles like Clackamas County
Strong management and a well-defined structure are essential to performance in any organization, even more so when the organization has responsibilities as diverse as those shouldered by county clerks
Even with the votes counted – finally – it could be years before we know the final result of the Clackamas County vote count from 2022 primary elections.
Yes, we know Daniel Nguyen won a close election to win the Democratic nomination for House District 38 and Jamie McLeod-Skinner beat incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader in the Democratic Primary for Congressional District 5. Those were the two highest profile races awaiting Clackamas County results to determine a winner. But we already knew who lost as the county took almost a month to announce final results after a printing error forced a time-consuming manual count of ballots: the voters and, to a degree, democracy itself. The only question is how much damage was done, and the answer depends in part on how the county and state respond.
No evidence of malfeasance has emerged in the vote counting. It appears that the fiasco was a matter of old-fashioned incompetence. But at a time when trust in elections and government is dangerously low incompetence further erodes confidence – especially when, as was the case in Clackamas County, the person in charge of elections had shown a pattern of incompetence for two decades.
Gary Conkling covered Clackamas County Circuit Clerk Sherry Hall’s responsibilities and job performance in a column yesterday, where he also pointed out the simplest way to reduce the likelihood of more problems in Clackamas County – voting Hall out of office in November. That’s exactly what Clackamas County voters should do.
But removing Hall from office is not enough to ensure that incompetence doesn’t derail future elections – in Clackamas County or elsewhere. As Gary pointed out, one of the core problems is the lack of attention that voters devote to county clerk races. Appointing clerks instead of electing them, as some counties do, is not necessarily a solution. A quick glance at the performance record of appointed officials in state agencies with somewhat similar job responsibilities confirms that incompetence is not limited to elected positions.
Here are three guardrails that could reduce the likelihood of minimally qualified people with poor performance records remaining in their positions.
Impose term limits: Sherry Hall has been in office for 20 years. That’s a long time to hold a position with as much responsibility and power as a county clerk has, even if there is a system of accountability in place. Without term limits, it’s likely that Hall and other elected clerks will stay in office as long as they want. It’s not a stepping-stone position and doesn’t create the type of post-service job opportunities that legislators can look forward to. And history tells us that most voters pay little attention to county clerk races, reflexively voting for incumbents.
Improve procedures and structures: In Governing magazine, Ricky Hatch, clerk/auditor for Weber County, Utah, and chairman of the election subcommittee of the National Association of Counties, explains that trying to build trust by disproving allegations is a futile, never-ending process, even in counties with far fewer problems than Clackamas. “Rather than trying to run around and refute those, we need to focus on what we do, the controls that are in place and why we feel it’s a trustworthy process,” Hatch said. The Governing article suggests a variety of ways to increase trust, but one that’s particularly applicable to Clackamas County is to define roles in election offices, making sure everyone knows their job and has accountability and backup. Such an approach likely would have prevented the mistake that led to the flawed Clackamas County ballots or at least produced a better solution after the mistake was made.
Establish a mechanism for removing people from office: Even term limits, more attentive voters and improved structures wouldn’t guarantee that all clerks do their job. As anyone who’s ever hired anyone knows, there’s not perfect way to vet candidates for a position – whether it’s in government or the private sector. The fact Oregon has no means for removing clerks under any circumstances is a glaring oversight. The bar for removal should be high, but there needs to be some process available to the public that these officials serve.
The common theme to these suggestions is strong management and defined structures. Clackamas County lacks both. The county, and every other county, needs to improve in those areas before November.
Mark Hester is a retired journalist who, among other jobs, was an editorial writer, business editor and sports editor at The Oregonian.