Tobias Read speaks at the Democratic election night party in Portland, Ore., Nov. 5, 2024. As Secretary of State, Read vowed to challenge President Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting in court.
Brooke Herbert / OPB
President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that instructs the U.S. Postal Service to only send mail-in ballots to people who have been deemed eligible by the administration.
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, along with his counterparts in other states, has vowed to challenge the order in court.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day to be counted even if they arrive late. Oregon has had a similar law in place since 2022.
Secretary of State Tobias Read joined OPB’s “Think Out Loud” to talk about what these changes could mean for Oregon, which was the first state in the nation to vote exclusively by mail. Here are excerpts from the conversation, edited for length and clarity:
How would the federal government determine who is eligible to vote?
“We don’t know how this would work, and I don’t trust this federal government with that kind of data … The idea that the federal government gets to determine who gets to vote and who doesn’t is contrary to everything we know about how the Constitution works. This is a fundamental, constitutionally guaranteed right, and it is states that determine that.”
Would the executive order restrict Oregon’s vote-by-mail system?
“I just do not accept that people are going to be able to impose on us the way we run elections in Oregon … Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution is really clear. The time, place, and manner of choosing representatives is determined by the legislatures of the states. It doesn’t say ‘president’ there. He can continue to say things like this, but it’s just not true.”
Will these changes make elections more secure, as the president claims?
“It is a myth. Voter fraud is vanishingly rare. It does not affect the outcome of elections.
In Oregon, we did a study of about 61 million ballots over 20 years and found 38 cases of improper voting. That’s 38 too many, to be sure … but it is not an issue that affects the outcome of elections, and it is not something that justifies this kind of overreach on the part of the federal government.”
Will Oregon challenge the executive order in court?
“Our office is in touch with the Oregon Department of Justice. I’ve spoken with the Attorney General. We’re going to use every tool we can. I don’t believe we have filed yet, but there are going to be a lot of people across the country who I think are going to file in one forum or another.”
Listen to the full conversation with Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read here:
