The Oregon Secretary of State's Elections Division said it had temporarily shut down its election phone lines after “the system was overwhelmed” by incorrect information coming from outside the state.
office said A Thursday press release blamed the spike in calls on a conspiracy theory circulating online and claimed that state election officials withheld former President Trump from Oregon's voter pamphlet. The Trump campaign has decided not to submit a statement in its Oregon voter pamphlet. Republican candidates did not issue statements during the party's May primary.
Earlier this week, the Oregon Republican Party released a statement explaining that there was no campaign statement.
“We are wondering why President Donald J. Trump's campaign statement is not included in the Oregon Voter Guide, which arrived in Oregonians' mailboxes this week,” the party said in an Oct. 10 letter. There are a lot of people,” he said. statement. “The decision not to provide a statement was made by the Trump campaign earlier this year.”
The decision to shut down the line comes just days after Libs, a popular right-wing account on TikTok. share A video of a person flipping through the pamphlet and a screenshot of Trump there.
“Donald Trump's name is not listed in Oregon's voter pamphlet. He is also not listed as a presidential candidate on the Oregon government website,” wrote one of his more than 3.5 million followers on X. The account with is written. “what happened?”
X attached a community note to the post stating that the former president “did not file any voluntary statements or pay the $3,500 required for a candidate to appear in the state pamphlet.”
In Oregon, it is a crime to threaten or harass election officials.
“Oregonians who need assistance will have to wait because some individuals are maliciously misleading people online,” Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin Varade said in a statement. Ta. “We need to do more as a nation to stop this type of behavior. Spreading rumors and false claims about election interference does not help Oregonians.”
