Volunteer Diane Roth collects ballots after they go through a processing machine at the Marion County Clerk's office in Salem, Ore., on May 18, 2026.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Leading Oregon Democrats on Tuesday once again proclaimed their faith that the Nov. 3 election will go off without a hitch, despite an ongoing legal battle over proposed changes to vote-by-mail policies.
But the state’s top elections official would offer little clarity on what he would do if President Donald Trump’s attempt to exert more control over who receives mail ballots is deemed legal in coming days.
“We remain confident that the law and the Constitution are on our side,” Secretary of State Tobias Read said in a Salem press conference, alongside Gov. Tina Kotek and U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley. “States run elections, not presidents. And the Postal Service’s job is to deliver the mail, not to decide who gets to vote.”
Wyden said Trump’s restrictions “are clearly not about fraud.” Rather, they are intended to make it harder for people to vote. “My sense is he’ll discombobulate this, make it confusing, make it difficult, all to try to make it less likely people will vote,” Wyden said.
With less than two months until Election Day, the legal tussle over an executive order Trump issued in March is capturing the attention of officials nationwide.
The order paves the way for the postal service to withhold ballots from people who aren’t on pre-approved voting lists sent by states. It would constitute a major expansion of the agency’s purview over elections that could have a particularly pronounced impact in states that conduct 100% of their elections by mail, such as Oregon and Washington.
The order is currently blocked by a federal injunction, and the U.S. Supreme Court could opine on its constitutionality in coming days. Read and other Oregon Democrats have taken every opportunity to lash out at Trump over the effort, and reiterated Tuesday they don’t believe the change could be implemented before Nov. 3 even if the court sides with the president.
“Ballots are being printed,” Read said. “Envelopes have been purchased. Military and overseas ballots will be in the mail in a matter of days. As of right now, we’re planning to send those ballots through the Postal Service, but rest assured we are watching those developments closely and monitoring their work.”
While the secretary said repeatedly he would use any tool to ensure voters get their ballot, he declined to comment on any contingency plans his office has in place if Trump’s order is allowed to proceed.
“I don’t think it makes sense to talk about all the things that we are preparing for and talking about, but Oregonians should be confident they will get their ballot,” he said.
Read this year has also stressed that voters should cast their ballots as early as possible, and recommends that they choose to put their ballots in an official drop box rather than sending them via mail.
That advice is based largely on concerns that the USPS is not processing ballots as speedily as it once did. That could impact how swiftly mailed ballots are postmarked, a crucial step for determining whether ballots that arrive after Election Day are counted. The state accepts ballots received up to a week after an election if they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
To bolster his case, Read pointed to newly released state data showing that more ballots were rejected in the May primary for having late postmarks than in either 2024 or 2022, the first year the state counted late-arriving ballots.
More than 7,300 ballots were rejected in the May 19 election for having late postmarks, about 13% of all ballots that arrived after Election Day. That compares to 9.6% in the 2024 primary and 8.2% in 2022.
That mirrors a trend in Washington state, where election officials said last week that more than 20,000 ballots were marked as late in that state’s August primary election. Washington saw a 32% increase in ballots that were not counted due to late postmarks.
To help ensure Oregon voters have ready access to an official ballot drop box, Read is requesting nearly $500,000 in emergency funding from the Legislature in hearings this week. His office is proposing purchasing 20 new drop boxes for poorly-served areas, and giving counties more money in order to manage increased use of drop boxes.
Read said Tuesday that voters should start deciding how they want to vote when their state-provided voter’s pamphlet arrives, so they can promptly fill out their ballot when it is mailed.
“Use that voter’s pamphlet to start researching and making your choices so that when your ballot does get to you, you can fill it out quickly,” he said.
