‘Small but mighty’ county team wraps up another radically transparent election

Commissioners praise the Lane County Elections team and review the numbers 35 days after the Nov. 5, 2024 election. On Dec. 10, County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky:

[00:00:13] Steve Mokrohisky: It is E+35, so we’ll have an Elections update for you to kind of wrap up the election cycle. But we wanted to be here with you today to recognize our Elections staff… This is our Elections team and we wanted to recognize this small but mighty group. They all have done a tremendous job conducting the 2024 general election with impressive commitment to transparency, accountability, and customer service.

[00:00:39] I know the board has seen—because of the updates that (County Clerk) Dena (Dawson) provides and when she’s here to give these updates—the incredible work that has been done over the last few cycles, particularly this year we were expecting a record turnout, a lot of energy and a lot of challenges presented from all of that in this general election.

[00:00:57] A few by-the-numbers examples of just how busy the Elections team was: We had a 77% turnout in this general election. 213,085 ballots were cast; 4,075 ballots returned to the customer service counter at our Elections office; 162,792 collected from official dropbox sites; 2,594 letters sent to voters with missing or non-matching signatures. 761 of those were then what we call cured by those voters, so their vote was able to be counted because they verified their signature, they came in and went through the process to verify their signature.

[00:01:39] On the Monday before Election Day, the elections office received 651 phone calls in one day and helped 400 voters at the counter. On Election Day, they received 380 phone calls and helped 700 people at the counter.

[00:01:54] Several of the other county officials, our organization volunteered on election night, myself included, it was really fun to be there and just participate in this nonpartisan activity, you know, we had people from various political and non-political affiliations that were all participating, and I found it to be a community, civic-service kind of a commitment from everyone that was there volunteering.

[00:02:20] But it takes a team of elections workers to do this work, not just on Election Day. There’s a lot of work in advance and afterwards.

[00:02:29] Overall, it’s been a busy year for the team. In addition to the primary and general elections, they conducted two off-cycle recall elections and had to recruit some key positions as people—some of the key individuals—had retired or pursued opportunities elsewhere.

[00:02:47] They still found time to make this elections process fun by hosting the first-ever coloring sheet contest and placing an Oregon-themed coloring sheet on the back of the dropbox list included with each ballot. So these are fun things for—well, kids like to color, adults like to color too. I had fun with that. My family had fun participating in that.

So we should also point out that many of the temporary election workers that we bring on board to help the ballot process, they’re a critical part of the elections in Lane County and our clerk Dena will be recognizing them for their help separately.

[00:03:26] In addition, our clerk staff, the Deeds and Records staff, also help in supporting that effort. So we want to recognize this Elections team today, again for our core behavior of passion to serve for just the incredible work, not just with this general election, but throughout the year that they do.

[00:03:44] So we have certificates here and I want to, Dena (Dawson), ask you if you have anything that you want to add to that.

[00:03:48] Presenter: County Clerk Dena Dawson.

[00:03:50] Dena Dawson (Lane County clerk): Thank you so much. Glad to be here again. Mostly just want to take this time to thank my incredible team without crying. I couldn’t do it without them. ‘Small but mighty’ is accurate. Including myself, there were seven full-time staff that really were supported by many but we couldn’t have got through this election.

[00:04:11] And we kicked butt! We did really really really well and I’m just really proud to be a part of this team and wanted to give all accolades right now to them and the 98 of our temporary election workers. And we’re having a potluck with them in January at their request to kind of celebrate so I’m just thank you and thank you.

[00:04:49] Presenter: Commissioner Ryan Ceniga.

[00:04:50] Commissioner Ryan Ceniga: First of all, thank you. I think most if not all of us got the chance to tour Elections during the process. I was lucky enough to tour it when it was in full busy mode. And it was great, ’cause (Director of County Operations) Lorren (Blythe) and I got to kind of sit back and watch all the concerns as they come up about voting and the different issues people were having and the way staff handled it was just incredible.

[00:05:17] And as long as that line was, ’cause it was a line, I was amazed at how fast it was moving. You know, these are real concerns. And it was interesting because it really reminded you the voting process and how much it means to people. And it was awesome to see that right there at the forefront.

[00:05:38] So yeah, thank you for all the hard work you guys do. And Lorren (Blythe), I don’t think it’s an accident you have so many all-stars on your team. So thank you for everything you guys do.

[00:05:49] Presenter: Commissioner David Loveall.

[00:05:51] Commissioner David Loveall: Thank you again. Dena, I’m just so happy for you, I’m glad that things went without a hitch, that we didn’t have a lot of safety issues and all that, and I think that just the attitude of the folks in the county shifted a little bit and maybe had some responsibility and accountability, so yeah, praise whoever that’s for, I appreciate that.

[00:06:07] The thing I really enjoyed most about going there and seeing the level of professionalism and the tenacity and the exactness and accuracy was just you giving tours and that little pesky little kid that was asking you all the questions and he was asking some really great questions. It was almost like he was prepped by Google or something to give you all these questions.

[00:06:25] But even in all of that, under all the pressure you’re under and all the people at the counter, you took time and effort and sincerity and authenticity to just be the person you are, and that’s a true professional, and you reflect that with your team, and your team reflects that from you, and you can’t have a good team without a good team leader, okay, and so you raise the bar, and you’ve done it really well, and so even helping almost 2,000 people in two days, hello? I mean, Chick-fil-A’s not even doing that much business over there, are they?

[00:06:54] So you guys did a really good job. So I appreciate you very much. Thank you.

[00:06:58] Presenter: Commissioner Heather Buch.

[00:07:00] Commissioner Heather Buch: I too got a tour right in the midst of everything. And I absolutely agree with my fellow commissioners on all the accolades. I want to thank you for working for Lane County because I know that you could do this elsewhere and you probably would be snatched to other cities and other counties, because this work is hard.

[00:07:21] And we need more of you, of course. Your team’s too small, and hopefully we’ll get there over time as your workload just continually increases, and how you do it is beyond me. But I appreciate the fact that you’re doing it for Lane County specifically.

[00:07:42] We need you. We appreciate you. And I just was so impressed that the process is just down pat, you know what to do and you just execute that process.

[00:07:56] And to all the volunteers that could be doing anything else with their time and making that time for this really important foundation of our democracy is so wonderful and if there’s a way that we can appreciate them as well, I hope we can do that too.

[00:08:15] Presenter: Commissioner Pat Farr.

[00:08:17] Commissioner Pat Farr: Seventy-seven percent turnout, that’s pretty amazing. How many ballots do we count again? (213,085). Yep, that’s a lot. You know, the one thing I wanted to say is that there are a few areas of government that people expect 100% accuracy. And there’s few areas of government where we can even pretend that we’re giving 100% accuracy. Because there are so many things that we deal with, you’re dealing with hundreds of thousands of ballots and you do expect 100% accuracy.

[00:08:47] I witnessed that. I came, I toured, you showed me how well this one, things that I wouldn’t have caught ever with my eyes are being caught by your team to submit to make sure that accuracy is being developed, being delivered. And I can report with confidence that your department is accurately reflecting the vote.

[00:09:06] And that confidence is an amazing thing to have when people are so critical of everything that we do in government, for me to be able to report that I’ve witnessed it myself and I’m seeing accuracy. So marvelous job, just showing how true accuracy is achieved in a place where people expect, demand, and suspect inaccuracy. Bravo, thank you.

[00:09:30] Presenter: Commissioner Laurie Trieger.

[00:09:31] Commissioner Laurie Trieger: Thank you, Dena. Thank you for being here. Thank you to all of you… This is a role that should be really, you shouldn’t have to face some of the concerns that you do about your own safety in the course of just doing your job. So I know these are extraordinary times to be doing such important work, and we appreciate you….

[00:09:48] I think it is so important—a couple of themes about your professionalism, your commitment to accuracy, the role that you play in our democracy. Talk about a public service and something that touches every single person.

[00:10:02] And what I also want to add that I really appreciate to all of you, and to Dena in particular, is you do it with some humor, and you want to have some fun while you’re doing it. When you’re doing serious work, it’s important to have some fun while you’re doing it. So I love the coloring sheet. I did one, and had a lot of fun tracking them on social media, too, with the hashtag. So I’m a fan. So thank you all so very much.

[00:10:27] Presenter: Lane County Clerk Dena Dawson, her ‘small but mighty’ Elections office, and nearly 100 temporary election workers follow through on a pledge of radical transparency and wrap up the 2024 general election. Results were certified Dec. 2.