By ANDREW SELSKY
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SALEM, Ore. (AP) — County clerks in Oregon are inundated with public information requests stemming from “the large lie” that the 2020 election was stolen, even whereas they’re already busy making ready for the November election, the secretary of state mentioned Monday.

Secretary of State Shemia Fagan has been visiting Oregon’s 36 counties to talk with county clerks and different elections officers, and mentioned she’s seen the pressure imposed by the avalanche of requests, from populous counties round Portland to Lake County, in southern Oregon close to the California border, with solely 5,590 registered voters.

“In current weeks, we’ve seen an inflow of public information requests nonetheless based mostly on the large lie — the large lie is that the 2020 election was stolen,” Fagan mentioned. “The lie continues to be impacting the operations of our elections staff, practically two years later.”

Fagan mentioned in a Zoom information convention that as she’s traveled across the state, she’s observed fatigue amongst county clerks and different county elections officers.

“These are seasoned of us who’ve been doing this for many years in Oregon in an especially nonpartisan means (however) they get so sick of the noise, and it’s simply overwhelming,” Fagan mentioned. A number of county clerks are retiring within the subsequent 12 months or so, representing over a century of mixed elections expertise, Fagan mentioned.

What number of of these retirements are as a consequence of added stress that elections officers are going through was not instantly clear.

The principle “myths” that elections officers in Oregon are confronting are that the 2020 election was stolen, that vote-by-mail elections cannot be trusted, that machine tabulators are fraudulent and that poll packing containers usually are not safe, mentioned Oregon Elections Director Deborah Scroggin.

A current convention hosted by MyPillow chief government Mike Lindell, a serious 2020 election denier, prompted a flood of calls for for data, Scroggin mentioned. Lindell hosted a convention in Springfield, Missouri, in August specializing in conspiracy theories.

“These are form of copy-and-paste information request that we’re being flooded with,” she mentioned. Earlier, they targeted on forensic audits. Lately, there have additionally been requires hand-counts, voting system certification and makes an attempt to undermine belief in drop-off poll packing containers.

Harney County Clerk Derrin “Dag” Robinson, in sparsely populated southeastern Oregon, mentioned he is had about 16 requests relating to the 2020 election in addition to dozens of notices of litigation — most of them being an identical.

Robinson and the county counsel are the one workers to deal with them and it’s “time consuming to say the least,” he mentioned.

Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison mentioned together with a dozen or so requests for cast-vote report information, they started receiving “litigation maintain” requests for data associated to elections from 2019 to at present.

They’ve acquired about 30 emails and letters that “had been an identical and had been copied and pasted from a supply,” he mentioned, noting that previously, the clerk’s workplace most likely acquired a pair public information requests a 12 months.

Criminal County Clerk Cheryl Seely additionally mentioned her workplace has seen a rise in public information request over the previous few months, including to the workload “however at the moment, to not the purpose of needing further workers.”

Jefferson County Clerk Kate Zemke mentioned her workplace “has seen a big improve as effectively.”

Oregon elections officers are combating false data with public service bulletins on radio, TV and the web, describing election integrity and the benefit of voting in Oregon.

Oregon was the primary state to institute vote-by-mail, wherein ballots are mailed to voters who can return them both by mail or at official, secured, drop-off packing containers. Monday marked one month earlier than ballots will begin to be mailed out to voters in Oregon, on Oct. 19, Scroggin mentioned. The final day to print and mail ballots to navy and abroad voters is Saturday.

It isn’t simply in Oregon that elections officers are swamped by information requests. It is also occurring in lots of elements of the nation.

Fagan mentioned her workplace will go to the Legislature to request a fulltime public information individual to assist take care of the requests acquired by the secretary of state and county elections officers.