P R E S S   R E L E A S E

Secretary of State SHEMIA FAGAN The State of Oregon

Contact: Ben Morris, 971-209-5521, ben.morris@sos.oregon.gov

Oregon Secretary of State Orders Post-Election Audit in Clackamas County

SALEM, OR — Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan ordered an audit today of Clackamas County’s May election results. Post-election audits are standard practice in Oregon, but due to a ballot printing error that forced the County to correct thousands of ballots with faulty barcodes, the Secretary directed the County to conduction additional audits, including the results of its ballot duplication process.

“Clackamas County voters can trust the results of their election,” Secretary Fagan said. “We can verify that the results are accurate by directing the County to audit its work.”

Standard post-election audits involve pulling a statistically significant, random sample of ballots off the shelves and counting them by hand. The results are then compared to the machine count to verify accuracy. The directive issued today requires recounts in addition to the hand recounts required for every county, and it requires election workers in Clackamas to verify that duplicated ballots were transcribed accurately from their original.

Post-election audits have been a standard practice in Oregon since 2008. They are one of the pillars of election integrity that make Oregon’s vote-by-mail system the gold standard for modern, secure and transparent elections.

“My mission as Oregon’s Secretary of State is to build trust. But let’s face it, weeks of negative headlines eroded Oregonian’s trust in elections,” Secretary Fagan said. “Even though processing the votes in Clackamas County was slow, it is now my responsibility to confirm that it was done correctly so voters can trust the election results.”

A copy of the order is available online at https://sos.oregon.gov/public-records-log/Documents/Directive-ClackamasRecountFinal.pdf

###

About Secretary Shemia Fagan

Pronunciation: shuh-MEE-uh (rhymes with “Maria”) FAY-gen (rhymes with “Megan”)

Shemia Fagan is Oregon’s 28th Secretary of State. She grew up in small Oregon towns, Dufur and The Dalles, and was raised by her single dad and two older brothers. Her public service began on her local school board. She was later elected to the Oregon House of Representatives, then to the Oregon State Senate. Secretary Fagan was a civil rights attorney before being elected to Secretary of State in 2020. She stays busy keeping up with her young children, teaching her dog not to jump on people and being a fanatic for women’s basketball.

About Oregon SOS

The Oregon Secretary of State is one of three constitutional offices created at statehood. Oregon’s Secretary of State is Oregon’s chief elections officer, chief auditor, chief archivist, and oversees business and nonprofit filings. The Secretary of State also serves as one of three members of the State Land Board and as the chair of the Oregon Sustainability Board. Under Article V, Section 8a of the Oregon Constitution, if there is a vacancy in the office of Governor, the Secretary of State becomes governor. As an independently elected constitutional officer, the Secretary of State answers directly and solely to the people of Oregon.

Our Mission

Build trust between the people of Oregon and their state government so Oregonians trust the public services that can make a positive difference in their everyday lives.