Donald Trump's decision not to appear in this year's Oregon voters' pamphlet has led to a rush of calls to elections officials from people out of state. Pictured above are ballots and the voters’ pamphlet for the 2022 Oregon election.
Jeff Thompson / OPB
Oregon elections officials say they had to shut down phone lines at the secretary of state’s office on Thursday after a flood of “out-of-state callers” overwhelmed the system.
According to a release, the deluge of calls is a result of online conspiracy theories, suggesting Oregon elections officials kept Republican-presidential nominee Donald Trump out of the state’s voters’ pamphlet.
While it’s true Trump does not have a statement in the pamphlet, that is not because of any Oregon official. Trump’s own campaign decided not to submit a statement for the pamphlet, which is sent out to voters throughout the state. Trump also didn’t submit a statement for the Republican primary in May.
As the Oregon Republican Party said in an Oct. 10 statement to tamp down misinformation: “Many people are wondering why no campaign statement from President Donald J. Trump was included in the Oregon Voters’ Guide which arrived in Oregonians’ mailboxes this week. The decision not to submit a statement was made by the Trump campaign earlier this year. Rest assured: President Trump WILL be on your ballot, along with other strong, common-sense Republican candidates.”
That statement came the same day a popular conservative account on X, Libs of TikTok, posted screenshots of the voters’ pamphlet that showed Trump is not included.
“Oregon voter pamphlets do not include Donald Trump,” the post reads. “He also is not listed on the Oregon State Government website under presidential candidates. What’s going on?”
X, formerly Twitter, subsequently attached a note to the post that indicates Trump opted not to pay the $3,500 to land a statement in the pamphlet. Neither that information nor the state party’s assurances have apparently been enough to stop outraged calls to state elections officials.
“There were some initial questions about why Donald Trump’s name was not included in the voter pamphlet, but really just today is what it ramped up with all of the phone calls coming into our office,” said Laura Kerns, a spokesperson with the secretary of state’s office.
Kerns said the office received around 400 calls Thursday before opting to shut down phone lines at around noon. Many of those calls were abusive, she said, while some were explicitly threatening.
As an example, Kerns shared a voicemail from a man who incorrectly believed that Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade had removed Trump from consideration in Oregon. The caller repeatedly referred to Griffin-Valade in explicit and vulgar terms, and at one point called on her to be “publicly hung for treason… for taking Trump and Vance off the ballot.”
“MAGA 2024,” the caller said. “You can’t stop us. We’re gonna steamroll you.”
Under Oregon law, it is a crime to harass or threaten an election worker. Kerns said elections officials are referring threats to state and federal law enforcement officials.
“Oregonians who need assistance will now have to wait because some individuals operating in bad faith are misleading people online,” Griffin-Valade said in a statement. “We need to do more as a country to discourage this kind of behavior. Spreading rumors and false claims of election interference does nothing to help Oregonians.”
The secretary of state’s office suggested voters who need assistance visit OregonVotes.gov or write an inquiry to elections.sos@sos.oreogn.gov.
As of Thursday afternoon, the office said it expected the phone lines to only be down for one day.
Election Day is Nov. 5 and ballots are already making their way to voters.