Attorney General Rayfield vows continued vigilance to protect Oregon elections

Attorney General Dan Rayfield today thanked Oregon voters, the Secretary of State’s team, county clerks, election workers, and volunteers after a general election that has run smoothly, despite the Trump administration’s efforts this year to restrict vote-by-mail.

“Every time the Trump administration has tried to interfere with Oregon elections, we’ve stood up to block them every step of the way,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “The courts—all the way up to the Supreme Court—have sided with the plain language of the U.S. Constitution. The President does not get to run our elections. Period.”

Oregon also stood with California late last month after the U.S. Justice Department tried to force election officials there to set aside more than 20,000 mail ballots without evidence of wrongdoing. Attorney General Rayfield co-led a multistate coalition backing California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Justice Department’s request. Just yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Trump administration’s application for emergency relief.

“Our work isn’t finished,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “We’ll keep watching for new attempts to interfere with Oregon elections, and we’ll be ready to respond.”

Background

On March 31, President Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. Postal Service to adopt rules that would interfere with mail voting. Oregon and 22 other states, plus the District of Columbia, sued days later.

A federal court blocked the order in June. In August, the Supreme Court said the states had sued too early but could return once USPS issued its rules.

When USPS issued those rules, Oregon and other states sued again. A federal court blocked them on September 4, and on September 14 the Supreme Court kept them blocked for the November election in a 7-2 ruling.