The number of election officials in Oregon hasn’t kept pace with voters, according to a new study from Reed College.
Researchers surveyed county election officials in 34 counties across the state. They found recruitment issues and high rates of burnout.
Election workers process ballots that are unreadable by machines due to misprinted barcodes on Saturday, May 22.
April Ehrlich / OPB
“It’s a flashing red light on the dashboard,” said Paul Manson, the research director with Reed College’s Elections and Voting Information Center.
Manson said since Automatic Voter Registration was introduced in 2016, election workers have had to field more questions from an influx of new voters. Meanwhile, he said they’ve faced an increasingly politicized environment.
“The job has changed fundamentally,” said Manson. “These frontline workers and managers are interpreting laws and helping voters access their constitutional rights, while managing public records requests and media requests.”
But according to Manson, the wages that staff receive haven’t increased to reflect those new responsibilities.
“We had one jurisdiction share with us that they’re being outbid by the fast food companies,” said Manson. “More common too, we heard they’re even being outbid by other county governments.”
Researchers found that across medium and small counties, staffing was consistently equal or less than what it was five or 10 years ago.
Additionally, there was a large degree of variation in employment across the state. One medium-sized county had a voter-to-staff ratio of 73,000, while another had a ratio of 2,000.
Manson said many jurisdictions rely on revenue from their local property transactions to fund elections, which isn’t based on their actual voting needs. And he said this revenue source is now less effective, as higher interest rates have cooled the real estate market.
Additionally, Manson said these offices are vulnerable to being slowed down through public records requests. He said national organizations can exploit the system while scrutinizing elections.
“They can flood offices with requests that they have a legal obligation to respond to on a timeline,” said Manson. “And that might stop or take resources away from other key functions of the office.”
Manson said to help county officials, the state needs to fund training for applicants from these local areas. And for future elections, he said state officials should help process large public records requests.