SALEM, Ore. — Oregon’s elections director was abruptly fired in a text message by the secretary of state after he pointed out serious issues with the state’s aging and vulnerable technology for running elections.
Elections Director Stephen Trout learned in a text message Thursday night - as his department and county elections officials were still counting votes from the Nov. 3 election - that he was out.
On Friday, Secretary of State Bev Clarno, a Republican appointed to the position by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, announced to county clerks and other elections officials in Oregon’s 36 counties that “today is also Steve Trout’s last day with the Agency.”
Election officials in the state were stunned.
Steve Druckenmiller, the veteran Linn County clerk, said Clarno’s action was “dangerous and so ignorant.”
“We are still in the election process right now. We are reconciling, we’re dealing with problems right now as far as your signatures and communicating with voters who didn’t sign the ballots,” Druckenmiller said. “We’re going to have to do recounts, all of these things. She doesn’t understand elections.”
Clarno’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trout, in a letter emailed on Nov. 2 to the Republican and Democratic candidates to replace Clarno, who did not run, described problems with the internet technology side of the secretary of state’s office.
He also said federal money had been misspent and that $11.7 million from the federal government must be returned by Dec. 31 because the Legislature did not authorize to “spend a penny” of the funds.
This happened even as the Oregon Centralized Voter Registration system is so old that Microsoft no longer supports the Windows Server 2008 system that it operates on.
The secretary of state’s office was going to take bids - officially known as request for proposal - in October for a new system, but Clarno paused this project without consulting with the county clerks or Trout, the ousted election director said.
Furthermore, Trout said calls by himself and other election officials for third-party verification systems to prevent Oregon from hacking of election systems went unheeded.
Sign up for Daily Newsletters
Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC.
AdChoices
Sponsored
Sort by
Trout was just doing his job and the mere fact that Oregon Centralized Voter Registration system is so old that Microsoft no longer supports the Windows Server 2008 system that it operates on, means the ability hack and manipulate is too easy. Trout was 100% correct to request that there be third party verifications of inability to hack, ESPECIALLY during this election year! He cared enough to bring up issues that should have been addressed WAY EARLY ON. He fired for trying help make the integrity of the elections safe, better and stronger and his firing should be reversed IMHO.
That's correct. Microsoft stopped supporting Server 2008 in January of 2020. It could easily be vulnerable , by now..
That may be true, and if he was fired without cause, then he should get his job back. Unfortunately, the reason this story is here is not because some guy in Oregon lost his job, it is yet another attempt to muddy the waters around the election. This story would never have made this Washington "newspaper" if Trump had won or if Trump wasn't pushing the lie about election fraud.
The WT and other right-wing sites want to stir up hate, and grievance using any excuse, and having been doing this for years. They are tearing America apart to make a buck, or to gain influence, and unfortunately too many on the right are more than willing to blindly follow them.
I really wish that Trump supporters would clue into how they are being manipulated.
WATSSDS?
I signed my ballot with the signature Ive used for 57 years ...And
because I voted straight republican they sent it back with a signature
issue...These are just some of the ploys liberals use to cheat elections
You signed yours as you should have, Oregon is trying to figure out a way to slam through ballots that DID NOT have signatures. Bad stuff all around the country and honest good people with many years experience as electiion officials being fired via texts? How nasty and wrong IMHO
I am not sure why you have to lie, but that is how Trump supporters roll. If you had a signature issue, and they gave you a chance to cure your ballot, then what is your problem. By the way, the people doing that job are Republicans, Democrats, and independents, or as anyone else with a sense of decency would say - Americans.
You are a disgrace.
WATSSDS?
