Lane County reports 26% of ballots already returned; Marcola voters asked to use drop box

One week before Election Day, just over a quarter of Lane County voters have already returned their ballots. On Tuesday, Oct. 29:

Steve Mokrohisky (Lane County administrator): I want to share with you that our livestream is new, improved, and live. We have several new camera views to enhance online observations so you can go on, again, lanecountyor.gov/elections and you can watch the video monitoring of our elections office. Twenty-one deconstruction teams opened and prepared over 30,000 ballots to be counted yesterday.

[00:00:35] As of the end of the day yesterday, over 73,500 ballots have been received. So we have approximately over 282,000 registered voters in Lane County. We’ve received 73,500 ballots so far. Keep an eye on the dashboard. The dashboard is now live and being updated regularly so watch that for updates.

[00:00:59] We were informed—you may have seen the news release that was put out—we were informed that a key used to open two United States Postal Service mailboxes in Marcola was stolen during a break-in at the Marcola Post Office Sunday night. It does not appear to be related to the election.

[00:01:18] And we are being cautious in asking voters in Marcola to return their ballots to the official ballot drop box at the Mohawk Marketplace. Voters can track their ballot on the Secretary of State’s MyVote site at OregonVotes.gov/MyVote.

[00:01:35] So just, you know, this is what’s challenging, the misinformation and with so much rapid access to information, there’s also a lot of misinformation that is available online. And so this is an example where we put out information saying that we’re aware that this key was stolen. There’s no information that we’re aware of to connect that to anything related to the election. But again, we just out of a precautionary way wanted to make sure that folks are aware of that and that they’re taking their ballots directly to the ballot box in that Marcola area.

[00:02:11] Our team continues to actively monitor election threats and is taking the recent attacks on ballot boxes seriously. You may have seen a story out of Portland and one out of Vancouver, Washington. Voters should feel confident returning their voted ballots to Lane County drop boxes.

[00:02:29] It’s important to note we have 21 drop boxes in Lane County. Most of them have either fire suppression and /or video surveillance. We also are working actively with local law enforcement throughout Lane County and have asked for additional local law enforcement patrols of our drop boxes so that we have that regular presence. The drop boxes are attended to and the ballots are collected at least daily since the drop boxes were opened about a week ago. Oct. 17 the ballot drop boxes opened and we’ve been attending those on a daily basis.

[00:03:10] So, just wanted to share that information and hopefully build some confidence in our process and the security that is in place at our drop boxes and throughout our entire process.

[00:03:24] Commissioner Heather Buch: It’s extremely disturbing to hear that ballot drop boxes are being attacked. (It’s outside of Lane County.) It’s outside of Lane County, but nonetheless, in Oregon and it’s a direct attack on democracy in our communities. And it may or may not be coincidence that we had those break-ins in Marcola at the same time, and I’m hoping no ballots were affected there. But the timing is terrible, especially when we’re trying to instill trust in our election system in Lane County.

[00:04:01] You had mentioned that some have fire suppression. I think in the reality of our elections today, we’re going to need them in every single one and cameras in every single one, and whatever other transparency needs, we’ve got to find funding for that. And that may really mean scouring grant opportunities.

[00:04:26] But I cannot see in today’s age how we cannot have all those preventative and transparency tactics installed at all 21 sites at this point. No one really expects that this will happen, but it just is the world that we live in today. And I hope that we can really work diligently to make sure that we can get that in place for the next election cycle.

[00:04:59] Steve Mokrohisky (Lane County administrator): You’re right. I think if you just look back a few years ago, these were not things that we were regularly dealing with, and so, you know, the challenges have changed, and we need to adapt to that going forward.

[00:05:12] But if you just look at the things that have been put in place, the grants and funds that we’ve received for video surveillance that has been put in place, the fire suppression, the online monitoring, the work with local law enforcement, you know, the dashboard information. There are a lot of things that we continue to do to adjust to the changing dynamics and more that needs to be done in the future.

[00:05:38] Commissioner Laurie Trieger: In addition to appreciating the update and appreciate Loren (Blythe) and our clerk, Dena (Dawson), I just have really been thinking a lot about her team, and wishing everybody well, and just really distressed that folks who are stepping up to do public service are facing threats and having to operate in a climate of such heightened anxiety. And so, really, just grateful to them for showing up every day and doing their work with commitment and integrity and focus.

[00:06:07] I share Commissioner Buch’s concern and goal of getting all 21 boxes as protected as possible. And I would love at some point, maybe before the year is out so that as we head into budget season, we can have a cost estimate on what it would take to make sure all 21 boxes are equipped with cameras and fire suppression materials or whatever that is.

[00:06:32] When Dena Dawson, our clerk, was with us, she talked about misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information and named the difference. And I think the vast majority of what’s out there is misinformation, just people getting it a little wrong, you know, things like characterizing what’s happening in Marcola as being about disrupting elections, and that’s misinformation. We don’t know. It’s a key to a mailbox. We don’t know if it’s related to elections. It’s misinformation.

[00:06:56] And there’s a lot of all of that out there. And as you mentioned, Mr. Mokrohisky, it moves quickly in this social media era. And so I’m just calling on my colleagues and making my commitment in public that when I hear things like this, what I do is get in touch with the professionals, get in touch with the clerk either through Loren or through our administrator, to really understand what we know is happening or to talk with law enforcement or whoever it might be so that we’re not part of that spinning up a machine of misinformation or disinformation and certainly not mal-information.

[00:07:29] And I just think that’s one of the most important things as elected leaders we can do all the time, but especially during an election cycle, and especially during one that is so heightened in the kind of attention it’s getting right now.

[00:07:43] In Oregon we also have the ballot tracker that the secretary of state’s office does, so anybody who’s concerned if they’ve put their ballot in the mail or a drop box and wants to be sure it was received can look their ballot up at the Oregonvotes.gov/MyVote. I’ve done that, just to make sure it really, really, really got received, not just went in the box.

[00:08:04] So thank you for the update. Thank you to Loren and to the election staff and to my colleagues for being part of helping the community understand all the things we’re doing to protect our vote and make sure every vote is counted safely.

[00:08:17] Steve Mokrohisky (Lane County administrator): In one other comment, I’ll just say (I) really appreciate both our Clerk Dena Dawson, Loren Blythe, and Devon Ashbridge, our public information officer, who to the point about getting information out, I mean, Devon has really worked very aggressively with our clerk’s office to get proactive information out for years around the process, around the security measures.

[00:08:42] An example yesterday, where, you know, the USPS issue was, it’s not a Lane County issue, right, it’s a US postal service (issue). We didn’t have to send a news release out, but we did that because we knew that there would be questions and speculation and the potential for misinformation, to get factual information out as quickly as possible so people have the facts from their government.

[00:09:05] And we still live in an environment where that is taken in different ways. But our obligation as a local government agency is to make sure that we’re putting factual information out for people to consume and then thank you for our officials to be sharing that information with their different constituencies and outlets.

[00:09:23] So I just really appreciate the work that Devon and the clerk’s office have continued to do to make sure that we get factual—I was on a radio show in Cottage Grove last week and Devon was on with me and we had a number of callers who asked about the elections process. And there was all really good questions about, you know, signatures and what if my signature has changed and how do I cure a ballot and questions about voter ballot security and those types of things.

[00:09:48] You all saw the email from a retired city manager praising Devon’s, the story that they heard on the radio about it, and I actually met with that retired city manager yesterday and he said, ‘Gosh, it really creates confidence in the community to have that type of factual information and that detailed information available to the public.’

[00:10:09] So I, for one, feel really good about the people that are doing this work for Lane County and the factual information that we’re putting out to the community to make sure that there is clear understanding and hopefully building trust.

[00:10:27] John Q: Lane County Elections continues its radical transparency. Watch their livestream to see ballot processing, check the dashboard for ballot returns, and you can even confirm that your ballot was received. The deadline for returning your ballot is 8 p m on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

by Devon Ashbridge, Lane County Public Information Office

Lane County Elections was notified Oct. 28 that a key used to open two United States Postal Service mailboxes in Marcola was stolen during a break-in at the Marcola post office overnight. The two USPS mailboxes are located in front of the Marcola post office and at the end of Mohawk River Road (a centralized neighborhood mailbox).

“Although this does not appear to be related to the election, we are being cautious and asking voters in Marcola not to return their ballots using these mailboxes,” said Lane County Clerk Dena Dawson. “Instead they can use the official ballot drop box at Mohawk Marketplace on the way into town.”

Voters who placed their ballots in the affected mailboxes over the weekend are encouraged to track their ballot on http://oregonvotes.gov/myvote . If they do not see their ballot marked as received by Lane County Elections within a day or two, those Marcola-area voters should call or visit Lane County Elections to request a new ballot.

A list of official ballot drop boxes is available online.

The Lane County Sheriff’s Office is conducting the investigation related to the break-in in coordination with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

The Elections Office, located at 275 W. 10th Ave. in Eugene, is responsible for conducting elections in Lane County. The elections office manages voter registration, the processing of mail ballots, recruitment and training of election workers, and certification of elections.