Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read says he has "no doubt" in his mind that President Trump is setting up to try to cancel future elections.
Read spoke at a League of Women Voters event in Eugene Tuesday, a day after a judge dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump administration, which was aiming to access Oregon voters’ sensitive data.
Read celebrated that decision on Tuesday, saying the information could have been used for political retribution, immigration crackdowns, or to further election conspiracy theories.
"We have seen what happens when this kind of data is mishandled," said Read to the audience, "and I am not about to gamble with your identity or your privacy."
However, Read said he still had concerns about cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which he said has helped informed states about potential attacks on their elections.
"The federal government is walking away from real election security," said Read.
At the same time, Read said Oregon is now preparing for federal efforts to disrupt its process. He said his office is in regular communication with the state legislature and each of the state's county clerks.
Read said there would still be regular midterms and an election in 2028, just as there have been through pandemics, wars and natural disasters.
“Every time we remind people of the history, every time we talk about how central this is to our democracy, we build the narrative," said Read. "We build the resilience. We build the expectation.”
At Tuesday's event, Read also expressed support for further discussions around open primaries in Oregon. And he said the state is more closely monitoring automatic voter registration at state DMVs, to prevent another incident in which ineligible residents are enrolled.
Trump told Reuters this month the U.S. shouldn’t hold the midterms, although a White House official later said that was a joke. The President has continued to campaign for Republican candidates.
