SALEM — Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson sent a letter to President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, spurning the president’s debunked claims of widespread voter fraud and pushing back against “federal intrusion” into Oregon’s un-hackable election system.
Although he was the clear Electoral College winner, Trump lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. He has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that the loss was due to voter fraud.
If there was illegal voting, it didn’t happen in Oregon, Richardson wrote in his January letter to Trump.
“I’m pleased to report that in Oregon we have reviewed the processes and we are confident that voter fraud in last November’s election did not occur in Oregon,” Richardson wrote. “In short, elections in Oregon cannot be hacked. … While we would welcome open discussion about threats to election infrastructure and the possibility of voter fraud, federal intrusion into Oregon’s election process should be rejected.”
Richardson also asked Trump to repeal an Obama-era designation of elections systems as “critical infrastructure.” The designation was made shortly before last year’s presidential contest in response to allegations of Russian meddling in the election.
I call on @POTUS to rescind the federal overreach into state and county authority of elections and voting, issued under prior administration pic.twitter.com/ozJHgiX9Nk
— Dennis Richardson (@OregonSOS) January 31, 2017
Then-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson issued a statement about the designation in early January, pushing back against criticism by some secretaries of state.
“It is important to stress what this designation does and does not mean,” Johnson said. “This designation does not mean a federal takeover, regulation, oversight or intrusion concerning elections in this country.”
For his part, Richardson said states should share threat intelligence with the federal government. But he urged Trump to “return full authority over elections to the states.”
— Gordon R. Friedman
gfriedman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8209
@GordonRFriedman
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