Oregon secretary of state candidate Dennis Linthicum on vote-by-mail, audits, election system

Editor’s note: Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Stay informed with OPB on the presidential race, key congressional battles and other local contests and ballot measures in Oregon and Southwest Washington at opb.org/elections.

OPB asked candidates for Oregon’s secretary of state the same questions. Candidates were given a 150-word limit. Anything beyond the 150-word total was not included in these responses. Read our coverage of this race here. See answers from Democratic candidate Tobias Read here and Pacific Green Party candidate Nathalie Paravicini here.

To start, please give us your name and basic biographical details, including your current position or job, any elected offices you have held and any key facts you would like voters to know about you.

My name is Dennis Linthicum and I am running for the office of Oregon’s Secretary of State because our state is at a crossroads. My wife, Diane, and I have had the privilege of living in Klamath County for over 3 decades. As we celebrate 44 years of marriage, our roots in Oregon run deep, with our children building their lives and families here in the Pacific Northwest, as well. The office of Secretary of State must be a watchdog for our democracy, not a lapdog for political elites. We face a critical moment where transparency, integrity, and truth are under siege. My commitment is to audit every corner of our government and ensure that every penny is spent wisely.

What are the job duties of the secretary of state?

The Secretary of State’s office fulfills four essential services. Firstly, it oversees elections and ensures their integrity, a duty that I believe has suffered under a prevailing single-sided mindset within the office. Repairing this tarnished image will be a primary focus, as public perception and trust in the electoral process has been severely impacted. Transparency and genuine empathy for divergent perspectives is lacking because the office seems to prioritize the majority party’s narrative over its fiduciary responsibility. This needs to be corrected to ensure fair and open access to voters.

Secondly, the office is responsible for auditing executive branch offices and departments. The auditing function is a proficiency test for these executive agencies. Like proficiency standards for high-school graduates, audits provide a metric to measure performance and identify areas for improvement. Timely, accurate, and comprehensive audits are necessary to enhance departmental efficiency and service.

Related: What you need to know about voting in Oregon and Southwest Washington

Why should you be elected Oregon’s next secretary of state?

I [am] running to bring direction, leadership, and change to the Secretary of State’s offices. I will ensure election integrity, timely and rigorous audits and bring a new perspective to the Sustainability Board and the Land Use Board. Former Secretary Fagan’s disgraceful resignation brought a flood of office improprieties to light and we are now awaiting the criminal investigations. The governor’s hand-picked appointment appears to be the typical, do-nothing replacement strategy for a wayward administration. The SOS started by initiating a contract with a so-called AI vendor regarding “misinformation, disinformation and mal-information (MDM).” Oregonians recognize this as an unconstitutional infringement against their guaranteed right to voice grievances, share thoughts and express their truest concerns. AI operates based on arbitrary keyword lists, created by partisan office-holders which necessarily exposes AI’s tremendous limitations. The AI industry space can only function within the simple and predictable but is incapable of determining right from wrong.

In addition to this job’s many responsibilities, the secretary of state is next in line to be governor. What in your background prepares you for that responsibility?

I have a BA in Economics (UCLA) and a Master’s degree (BIOLA) which helped steer my career through the cutting edges of technology—software development, database management, and beyond. Whether in California or Oregon, I’ve been at the forefront of sectors such as defense, semiconductor manufacturing, private sector portfolio and real-estate management services. I’ve spent my life engineering solutions in a world where truth, precision, and accountability matter. My first foray in to elected office was a Klamath County Commissioner. People in the local community asked me to run for office as I was not afraid to share my ideas and step up to challenges that lay in the road ahead. I stepped up, challenged the status quo, and began to recognize circumstances where government had abused its authority and engaged in wasteful spending and bureaucratic overreach which led to the erosion of freedom for the people in Klamath County.

How would you use the office’s power of the audit? What programs, agencies or issues do you believe deserve scrutiny from the secretary of state’s office?

The sensible approach to ensure effective governance and accountability would be to focus on departments and agencies that have a statewide impact. Departments such as Education, Environmental Quality, Water Resources, Transportation, and Justice. These departments typically handle significant budgets and have a direct impact on citizens’ daily lives. Conducting regular audits helps identify areas for improvement, ensure compliance with regulations, and optimize resource allocation. Furthermore, addressing unique circumstances and shifting resources based on risk assessment, legislative requirements, and organizational priorities is essential for adapting audit strategies to evolving needs. Flexibility in resource allocation allows for targeted audits where they are most needed and ensures that audits remain relevant and effective over time. Additionally, specialized agencies and commissions related to Housing, Human Services, and Public Health play critical roles in supporting dependent populations and maintaining public welfare. Conducting comprehensive reviews of these agencies ensures that they are operating efficiently

Related: Issues important to Oregon voters

Oregon should be and must remain a vote-by-mail state exclusively. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Vote-by-mail systems are popular because of they are easy to use. But vote-by-mail systems also have inherent problems they are worthy of discussion and review. First, they are costlier to implement. Second, the problems involve more than just the tabulation machines and their proprietary software algorithms. There are also concerns about internet connections and whether or not the tabulated results can be tampered with or altered by outsiders. The primary object of government is to check and control the ambitious and designing people who would abuse government power. This is why everyone in America is familiar with the phrase, “Innocent until Proven Guilty.” This common phrase did not arise because we believe everyone is actually innocent. This phrase focuses our recognition that people in power are the ones most capable of using government as a tool that can issue a verdict by using false charges, discretionary prosecution and judicial corruption.

Related: Listen to 'OPB Politics Now'

What is your view of ranked choice voting? How would you implement and explain a system to Oregonians if voters approve this election change this fall?

The Ranked Choices Measure 117 is one of the worst ideas I have ever seen make it to the ballot. In the past, bad ideas like making it a crime to kill and butcher both private and production class beef, pork or chicken products surfaced, but never made it to the ballot. This time, the measure has gathered the required signatures. I recommend a NO vote. Our modern political class doesn’t like to make bold statements and there is no way to measure or rank the subtle nuances of any single candidates’ leanings in different circumstances given different trade-offs. Most trade-offs are unseen and difficult to quantify. Political pollsters ask simple minded questions like, would you rather bicycle to work, or walk? The unasked or unseen variations turn out to be the more relevant parts to the question, i.e., what if it were more than 36 miles each way.