Oregon’s seven electors cast their votes for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Monday, capping a presidential election whose outcome was never much in doubt in the state.
Meeting in the state Senate chamber — all masked and socially distant — the electors were sworn in by Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters before unanimously picking Biden and Harris to receive the state’s seven Electoral College votes. Biden handily won the state, receiving more than 56% of the vote compared to 40% for President Trump.
“Oregon experienced a record turnout at over 2.4 million ballots cast,” Secretary of State Bev Clarno said in remarks prior to the vote. “Oregonians can have confidence in the accuracy of those certified results.”
Under the Electoral College system, the popular vote served only to choose which electors would have a say in the presidential outcome. Biden’s win in Oregon ensured that a slate of seven electors chosen by the Democratic party and pledged to vote for Biden were sent to Salem Monday. Biden took 306 electoral votes in this year’s election, compared to Trump’s 232.
The vote came as states across the country affirmed the votes of the Nov. 8 election, solidifying Biden’s ascension to the White House next month even as President Donald Trump’s allies have tried to cast the result in doubt.
In her remarks, Clarno appeared to allude to repeated attempts by the president to sow fear about the accuracy of voting by mail, a practice Oregon has led on. Clarno noted that this year’s election came after unprecedented wildfires displaced many, and COVID-19 had profoundly reshaped everyday life.
“All of this on top of a 2020 general election that was rife with misinformation, leading to mistrust in our democracy and division among our citizens,” said Clarno, a Republican. “Oregon faced adversity and turmoil in 2020, but one thing we were well equipped for was conducting a vote-by-mail election.”
While the president has continuously claimed to have won this year’s election, he and his allies have not offered proof of widespread voter fraud or other malfeasance they allege occurred, and their legal challenges have consistently been tossed out of courts around the country.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch lawsuit in which the state of Texas attempted to delegitimize the votes in four swing states that voted for Biden. The ruling came just hours after 12 Republican state lawmakers in Oregon had expressed support for the effort.
While the Electoral College continues to determine the outcome of presidential elections, an effort is underway to do away with an institution many see as outdated and problematic — particularly after the winner in two of the last six presidential contests did not win the popular vote. In 2019, Oregon signed onto the National Popular Vote Pact, an agreement among states to pledge their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins the most votes nationally.
The agreement would not take effect unless enough states sign on to represent a majority of the nation’s 538 electoral votes.
“While I’m honored to take part in today’s ceremonies, the Electoral College is a relic of a bygone era, a reminder of our nation’s racist beginnings, and over 230 years later remains a shameful vestige of slavery within our democracy,” said Carla “K.C.” Hanson, chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon, who was one of the state’s seven electors. “And as we’ve been reminded multiple times over the last 20 years, the Electoral College can lead to undemocratic results where the candidate who receives the most votes is not the candidate who ultimately wins.”