The general election is now over, wrapping up months of planning, assistance and coordination among the state’s 36 county clerks. They are responsible for mailing off ballots, registering voters and overseeing elections in local, state and federal races in Oregon. More than a third of them this year also administered a presidential election in Oregon for the first time.   

County clerks have had to do their jobs while facing budget cuts, the spread of misinformation and threats of physical violence and intimidation directed against them and election workers. Some have also had to reassure residents about the safety and security of Oregon’s vote-by-mail system after the recent arson attacks on ballot boxes in Multnomah County and Vancouver, according to Rochelle Long, the Klamath County Clerk and president of the Oregon Association of County Clerks. 

Long joins us to discuss the challenges Oregon county clerks prepared for and confronted during the general election.