The Multnomah County sheriff’s deputy who, on Election Day, drove past a line of people waiting to vote at in Southeast Portland and chanted “Trump, Trump” over the loudspeaker of a county vehicle violated election law, according to an investigation by the Oregon Secretary of State, Election Division.
According to documents obtained by the Portland Mercury, Deputy Jason Vetter faces a fine of $75 for violating OR S 260.432 “by engaging in political advocacy while on the job during work hours as a public employee.”
The documents say that Vetter had received multiple emails letting him know about the law and he violated it anyway while he was a passenger in a Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office work crew vehicle.
“You saw that you were driving to a place to vote,” the documents read. “You used a clearly marked official MCSO work crew vehicle’s public announcement system, and chanted ‘Trump, Trump’ while driving down the street and past a line of electors.”
On Election Day, Pat Moran told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he was in the line with around 30 other people when he saw “a cop” drive by.
“He said over the car speaker megaphone, ‘Vote Trump,'” Moran told us.
The Secretary of State says that several people complained about Vetter’s actions, both to MCSO and to the Secretary of the State’s Office.
In December spokesman for MSCO, Lt. Chad Gaidos, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the sheriff’s office would conduct an independent internal investigation after the state’s investigation ended. We reached out to Lt. Gaidos to learn more about the status of that investigation and will update this story if he responds.
— Lizzy Acker
503-221-8052
lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker
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