Oregon SOS receives a slew of threats, vile messages triggered by a misinformation campaign

An Oregon State Police patrol vehicle was stationed outside the Secretary of State’s office Friday and phone lines were interrupted for a second day, both the result of a misinformation campaign that officials say was started by a couple social media accounts with a large following.

The office says it has seen hundreds of calls, mostly from out of state, with claims that Oregon Secretary of State,LaVonne Griffin-Valade, intentionally excluded former President Donald Trump from Oregon’s voter pamphlet with some callers also claiming that she had removed him from the ballot. Neither claim is true.

Both the Oregon Republican Party and Regional GOP spokesperson,Rachel Reisner, confirmed that Trump’s information was not on the pamphlet because he did not submit a statement. Voters wanting information about his platform are advised to go to his website.

Many ballots have already been mailed out and Trump is on the Oregon ballot.

Laura Kerns, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office, said phone lines were fully shut down Thursday and were only partially back in service Friday.

"We will be screening voicemails. Oregonians who call with specific, answerable questions about the election will be prioritized for a return call. At this time, we plan to fully reopen Monday," she said in a written statement.

The office shared audio of a vile voicemail in which a caller uses multiple vulgar insults towards women and calls for violence against Griffin-Valade. Kerns said the office has been getting hundreds of those types of calls.

"The volume and hostility of calls remains high today. We received about 400 calls on Thursday morning alone," she said in a statement. "It’s not unheard of to receive the occasional threat around a major election, whether it’s directed at us or other elections officials in Oregon, but yesterday and today are extreme in the level of hostility."

Multnomah and Clackamas County election officials said the issue was not affecting them however Marion County Clerk Bill Burges said his election works have been getting a number of angry calls.

"Most the people are nice, but about 25% of the people are pretty darn abusive to my staff calling the names and swearing at them," he said. "Every once in a while we can get a person who goes from that point to where they’re smiling or at least laughing at the end. That’s our goal."

He said election workers are trained in de-escalation tactics and have also received training on identifying threats. He said staff also check in on each other and support each other in the tense environment.

"We’re just encouraging each other. I’ve got a very resilient staff a very caring staff a very dedicated staff that they want to get the job right no matter what and they believe in democracy and they believe we have to do everything we can to make it work," Burges said. "We’re not going to be deterred we’re going to make sure that this election works for everybody that wants to participate."

https://katu.com/news/local/oregon-sos-receives-slew-of-threats-vile-messages-triggered-by-misinformation-campaign

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Author: KATU News
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News post in at: October 19, 2024, 3:03 am.

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