Trump Administration Renews Attempts to Intimidate Election Administrators, Undermine Elections

Secretary Read pledges to stand up for Oregon as many times as it takes

Yesterday, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice stating that the federal government was ready to prosecute elections officials and renewing their attempts to unlawfully meddle in Oregon elections.

Secretary Read is releasing the following statement:

“The U.S. DOJ is knocking on our door again with more threats and no evidence to back up their fever dreams about non-existent voter fraud.

Oregon elections are secure, accurate, and fair. These are facts backed up by decades of work by local elections officials who follow the law.

I’m not intimidated by political threats or manufactured controversy. My priority is making sure Oregonians can continue to hold government accountable, free from any interference by politicians in Washington D.C. We’ve beaten back every illegal executive order and lawsuit so far. We're ready to do it again, as many times as it takes.

If the President actually wanted to strengthen our elections, there are better places to start: adequately funding election administration, restoring the federal election cybersecurity program he cut, and expanding access to vote-by-mail, paper ballot elections – just to name a few.”

The letter to Secretary Read was signed by Harmeet Dhillon, a former Republican party official and 2020 election denier who is now leading the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under President Trump.