Oregon Challenges Federal Order on Ballot Storage Duration

The Government of Oregon is currently a plaintiff in lawsuits challenging a Trump administration executive order that mandates the storage of election ballots for up to five years. Current Oregon law requires a 90-day waiting period before ballots can be destroyed.

Oregon employs a standardized vote-by-mail system across all 36 counties, following guidelines from the Oregon Secretary of State’s manual. The process involves collecting ballots from secure dropboxes and verifying signatures against registration records. Tallying is performed by air-gapped machines using Clear Ballot software, with ballots hand-counted and triple-checked before being placed in vaults.

Security for these materials includes motion sensors, mesh glass, and constant camera surveillance. Data from the Brookings Institution and the Oregon Legislative Fiscal Office indicate that voter fraud in such systems is extremely rare. A study by the Legislative Fiscal Office found a fraud rate of 0.00006% between 2000 and 2019.