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Left, an undated headshot of Tobias Read, Democratic nominee for Secretary of State. Right, Dennis Linthicum, Republican nominee for Secretary of State, pictured on inauguration day at the Capitol in Salem, Ore., Jan. 9, 2023.
Courtesy of Tobias Read Campaign/Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Perhaps the most glaring distinction between the two leading candidates for Oregon secretary of state is where they fall on the very basics: how Oregonians vote.
Democratic nominee Tobias Read would like to see Oregon’s vote-by-mail serve as a national model, while Republican Dennis Linthicum recently filed a lawsuit questioning the validity of mail-in voting.
Four years ago, former President Donald Trump raised issues about absentee voting and falsely claimed the election was stolen. Conservatives have echoed those concerns, which have largely been dismissed by Democrats.
Related: What you need to know about voting in Oregon and Southwest Washington
But in recent weeks, revelations that Oregon mistakenly registered at least 306 noncitizens to vote injected a new level of intensity in an otherwise relatively drama-free statewide race for Oregon secretary of state. Linthicum has seized on the issue.
“It’s no longer a conspiracy that illegal immigrants can successfully register to vote in Oregon,” Linthicum recently told OPB. “But now they actually have, so our conspiracy theory has turned from hot air to fact and I bet you it’s a lot more than 306 … I bet you it’s 10 times that number.”
There is no evidence that the people mistakenly added to the voter rolls are in the United States illegally nor that they intentionally registered to vote. They were passively registered through the DMV’s automatic voter registration law, known as motor voter law.
For his part, Read, the Democrat from Beaverton, has said he was “appalled” by the discovery and said the secretary of state must move quickly to “protect the integrity of our system.”
“I absolutely still believe in our vote-by-mail system, which has helped make voting more accessible, convenient and secure — when it is properly administered,” Read said. “The failure of the DMV to complete the proper checks of the data that was sent to the secretary of state did expose a flaw in the administration that must immediately be addressed.”
Related: Issues important to Oregon voters
Read, the current state treasurer and former house lawmaker, said he plans to bring stability to the role. The office, he said, has seen enough excitement recently. The previously elected Secretary of State Shemia Fagan announced in May 2023 that she was stepping down before her term was over. Her announcement came after revelations, first reported by Willamette Week, that she had signed a lucrative contract with a cannabis company at the same time her office audited state regulations on cannabis business. The owners of the cannabis company were also high-profile Democratic donors.
Read, who also ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2022, served two consecutive terms as state treasurer and can no longer run for the role. He said he would bring the same level of no-drama to the state’s second-highest-ranking job that he brought to his treasurer role.
“I know I’m not the most charismatic, exciting candidate … I think the secretary of state could stand less drama,” Read said. “I’m about getting the work done.”
His goal: restore trust to the office. It’s an important job, charged with overseeing elections, auditing state agencies and second-in-line to become governor. This happened in modern history when then-Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned in 2015 and Kate Brown was sworn in as governor. The secretary of state also sits on the state land board, which makes decisions about state-owned land.
Read spent a decade in the state House of Representatives before winning the treasurer job in 2016. One of his achievements while treasurer, he said, was creating the nation’s first opt-out retirement plan that will help thousands of Oregonians have a retirement fund, a plan called OregonSaves. Read said his work to streamline the state’s unclaimed property program has made it easier for Oregonians to recapture lost assets, such as forgotten bank accounts or old checks. Read noted the treasury department also conducts audits, so he has experience in the arena.
Related: Listen to 'OPB Politics Now'
Linthicum, who is from outside of Klamath Falls, has served as a state lawmaker since 2017, but cannot seek reelection after participating in legislative walkouts. Linthicum is also a businessman and rancher and served on the Klamath County Commission.
The last Republican elected to the role was Dennis Richardson. When elected, he became the first Republican to hold statewide office in Oregon in nearly four decades. Richardson died in 2019 while still serving his term after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Bev Clarno, also Republican, served the remainder of Richardson’s term. After Fagan stepped down, Gov. Tina Kotek tapped LaVonne Griffin-Valade to fill the remainder of Fagan’s term. Griffin-Valade is not running for the seat.
Despite filing a lawsuit claiming there was widespread disenfranchisement of Oregon voters through vote-by-mail, Linthicum pushed back on the notion that he would end vote-by-mail if elected.
“I will direct my effort toward making our vote-by-mail system safe and secure until the will of the people might change legislative direction,” Linthicum wrote in response to questions from OPB. “Then, I would place my efforts into finding the system that best represents the public interest, at the most reasonable cost, and can guarantee the security and integrity of every vote.”
Linthicum said he would bring a sense of accountability and transparency to the office and deliver audits on agencies and commissions that deal with housing, human services and public health departments.
“An example is the transportation road show, where [lawmakers are] traveling throughout Oregon,” Linthicum said. “Every meeting highlights what communities need or want, followed by discussions of staffing issues and shortfalls within the Department of Transportation. Yet, at the same time, no ever asks about unfilled positions, overtime stats, construction debacles, design and engineering mishaps. Or simply: where did all that money go?”
Nathalie Paravicini, a naturopathic doctor in Portland, is a member of the Pacific Green Party and the Oregon Progressive Party. She noted her experience as a doctor has given her the skills to navigate inefficient and convoluted systems. Paravicini also briefly ran for governor.
Paravicini said Oregon should remain a vote-by-mail state.
“We give away our credit card numbers every day to purchase things through Amazon; the state can certainly figure out safe identification for voting, the backbone of our democracy,” she wrote in response to questions from OPB.
