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The only contested county clerk's race in Oregon is in Douglas County, where an incumbent elections official faces a challenge from someone who wants to completely upend the current system.
Sam Frost is running to oversee the county’s elections because she believes the current clerk, Dan Loomis, isn’t trustworthy.
Frost wants to remove voting machines from the county and hand-count ballots. In 2020, the last presidential election, Douglas County voters cast more than 65,000 ballots.
"What I would do differently in that office is I would actually turn the machines into the Department of Justice for election crimes, because I really do believe that election crimes have been committed on those machines," she said.
Frost doesn't want the state involved at all in how their county elections are run. She said she wants to bring the "constitution" to Douglas County elections.
“We should have our own county elections," she said. "The people in our county should be the ones deciding how we do things.”
The Oregon Constitution empowers the legislature to make laws regulating elections in the state. Those laws say that the secretary of state shall, "Prepare and distribute to each county clerk detailed and comprehensive written directives, and shall assist, advise and instruct each county clerk, on registration of electors and election procedures which are under the direction and control of the county clerk." The law also says that county clerks must follow directives from the secretary of state, with legal consequences if they don't.
Right now, the use of voting machines to tally ballots is required in Oregon for most elections, based on a directive from the secretary of state in 2022.
Frost is also allied with a prominent elections conspiracy theorist, Douglas Frank. His theories have been debunked by elections experts and fact checkers.
Loomis, the incumbent county clerk, said he thinks it’s great that voters have a choice this time, since he ran unopposed in 2020. He said he obviously has more experience than his opponent.
“Another way that we are different is I believe in the integrity of our elections, because I personally see the checks and balances that our staff adhere to," he said.
Loomis also praised the infrastructure and security upgrades they’ve made during his five-year term, including more video surveillance and installing electronic key card access. He said he's looking forward to the replacement of the county's voter registration database next year.
"I want them [voters] to be assured that the system just continues to grow, to become more secure, more user friendly," Loomis said.
Ballots should be turned into a drop box or postmarked by 8pm on election day, November 5th.
Copyright 2024 Jefferson Public Radio
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
