Courts have ruled twice this week on the Trump administration’s efforts to limit voting by mail, most recently blocking new U.S. Postal Service restrictions Thursday.
In a statement acknowledging the ruling, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said the Constitution guarantees states have the right to run their elections.
“While this is a win, we will continue to aggressively pursue every available tool we have to protect every Oregon citizen’s right to vote,” Read said. “I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Oregon elections are secure, accurate and fair, and we’re going to keep it that way.”
Oregon’s leaders say the state’s midterms will continue as normal. Oregon voters have had the option to vote by mail since the 1980s, and have exclusively voted by mail since 2000, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
In a news release celebrating the decision, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the court’s order will temporarily block key provisions of the USPS rule for 14 days. That will allow a lawsuit filed by Oregon and a coalition of states to move forward. The coalition is arguing the rule is unconstitutional and violates longstanding procedures, federal voting law and USPS’s governing statutes.
“Oregonians have trusted vote-by-mail for more than 25 years because it works,” Rayfield said. “It’s secure, it’s convenient, and it lets every eligible voter make their voice heard – and today the court agreed that Donald Trump can’t upend that system just a few months before ballots go out.”
In an interview with KLCC Friday, U.S. Rep Val Hoyle, a Democrat from Springfield, said she believes the rules are aimed at making it harder to vote amid an unpopular war and tariffs. She said the litigation is one of several steps needed to preserve voting rights for Oregonians.
"We need to protect our elections,” Hoyle said. “Right now we have a Secretary of State and an Attorney General that are focused on making sure we protect our constitutional right to cast a ballot.”
She also pointed to a bill she sponsored with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the Vote at Home Act, that is aimed at protecting vote by mail and expanding access to other states.
