The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners proclaimed Monday, Nov. 4, 2024 — the eve of this year’s Nov. 5 general election — as Election Hero Day to honor and appreciate the essential contributions election workers make.
Multnomah County’s Elections Division conducts all local, city, county, state and federal elections for County residents. And the November general election is especially notable.
At a time when a contentious presidential race is stoking misinformation and false claims about election integrity nationally, the County has also had to implement the City of Portland’s voter-approved transition to ranked-choice voting for its candidate contests.
- Watch a video about ranked-choice voting.
- Explore Elections’ ranked-choice voting resource page.
“Any day we can talk about the heroic work of so many people who make up our election systems and their work to help citizens vote is a good day in my book,” said Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
“I’m glad for this opportunity to deepen our conversation today in our boardroom. We are taking this time to really acknowledge the essential hard work of the people whose daily job or volunteer role is to ensure that we have fair, accurate, accessible and transparent elections.”
The Chair said she appreciated, in light of “false claims of rigged elections and illegal voters and avoidance tactics as a call to intimidate specific voting blocs and our election workers,” the steps taken by Elections staff and Director Tim Scott and their counterparts in law enforcement to ensure voter integrity, as well as voter and worker safety.
“This preparation based on best practices means voters are safe when casting ballots, votes are transparently and validly counted, and that our workers feel safe and able to fulfill their critical roles,” said Vega Pederson.
Jennifer Wessels, operations manager for the Elections Division, opened Thursday's presentation sharing the importance of the more-than-150 elections workers who will join the division as ballots are being processed now, and even after Nov. 5, thanks to new ballot-postmarking laws that took effect in 2022.
“They’re working very hard to make sure this election on Nov. 5, 2024, goes off without a hitch, running smoothly and giving election results to our voters,” said Wessels, who started her work at Elections in customer service and voter registration.
This election, she noted, will be the 45th she’s helped administer.
“I feel privileged to work beside this incredible and dedicated group of people that serve Multnomah County voters and ensure accessible, transparent and accurate elections,” she said.
Election workers — both permanent and on-call — come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, said Wessels. “They care very deeply and personally about elections like many voters, but amazingly they show up. They check their opinions at the door. And they administer elections and prioritize the actual process of the election.”
Paty Vasquez Pacheco, a bilingual translation coordinator who leads the Elections team at the Voting Center Express in Gresham, described the immense work that has been done so far this year and the work yet to come in the next two weeks.
“Election heroes have endured throughout the pandemic, conducting 10 elections [in that time] and consistently delivering election results in a timely and accurate manner,” said Vasquez Pacheco.
“We have maintained a staff level of 150-plus and we’re prepared to administer the City of Portland’s historic, first-ever ranked-choice voting election this November," said Vasquez Pacheco.
She added that in preparation, Multnomah County Elections completed the nation’s first test hand count for multi-winner ranked choice voting contests.
Vasquez Pacheco shared her pride in her role helping lead the Voting Center Express, located inside the Multnomah County East Building in Gresham. The Voting Center Express service site, which serves people in multiple languages, offers a more accessible resource for the roughly 140,000 County voters who live east of Interstate 205. It opens about four weeks before Election Day and serves “ a diversity of voters around the neighborhood,” according to Vasquez Pacheco.
Judy Elam, an on-call election worker who joined the Elections Division 16 years ago, described her joy working for Elections. Elam has worked on Elections’ “opening boards,” the bipartisan groups of workers who open and sort accepted, anonymous ballots to be counted. But her first job when she started in October 2008 was working with the Elections Voter Assistance Teams that provide assistance in a voter’s home, at a hospital or care facility, or at the Elections Office and Voting Center Express.
“Tim Scott had just been hired before me“ as the director, she recalled.
“We would go out to a residential home or to a group home where residents had requested assistance with voting.”
At the Voting Center Express, voters with accessibility needs can use Independent Voting Units, or IVUs, said Elam. An IVU is a tablet system that allows voters to use adaptive technology to vote their ballot. The device allows for private audio-reading of ballots through a headset that can be used to adjust the volume and speed of the reading. A touchscreen provides adjustable font sizes and contrasting color-sets for people who are visually impaired. Voters can use the touchscreen or a controller held in their lap to operate the device, which has markings in English and braille.
“Sixteen years is so long, congratulations! And I wish you all the best, " Commissioner Sharon Meieran said after listening to Elam’s comments.
Commissioner Jesse Beason shared his love of history.
“I just want to share that 152 years ago, on Nov. 5, 1872, a Black woman, Mrs. Mary Beatty, and three white women walked to the precinct, which is where the AC Hotel is downtown right now at Third and Taylor, to cast their ballots.” he said.
“I often think about what chaos ensued as women tried to vote. The story goes that the election workers felt they had the duty and responsibility to let those folks record their vote.”
Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards shared she had voted in Multnomah County in every election since 1979. “And my observation with all of those interactions of the staff and temporary staff, is a very high level of integrity, courteousness to everyone, no matter what someone’s philosophy. They facilitate everyone’s right to vote in a fair and transparent way.”
Commissioner Lori Stegmann thanked the presenters for the information they shared.
“I was really excited to hear about the Voting Center Express and the Independent Voting Units. That kind of outreach isn’t common anymore and the fact that you all are doing it is wonderful,” she said.
She also encouraged voters to attend tours like the ones Elections Director Tim Scott has provided her constituents in east Multnomah County. “If anyone has concerns or would like to see how well run our Elections Office is, I would encourage you to reach out and ask them for a tour. If you see how elections are run, it will increase your confidence that our elections are safe and secure.”
STATEMENT FROM MULTNOMAH COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS:
For over two decades, Oregon’s Vote by Mail effort has led to accurate and fair elections of ballot measures and candidates across party lines. This achievement has been maintained through the COVID-19 pandemic and pervasive misinformation and disinformation campaigns.
Oregon’s 36 election clerks and directors, including our Multnomah County Elections Director and former Oregon Association of County Clerks president Tim Scott, conduct vote-by-mail elections with professionalism and fidelity to what’s become a time-tested system. They undertake rigorous project planning, including testing the ballot counting systems for logic and accuracy both before and after ballots are counted. They also conduct audits of election results using randomly selected contests and ballots.
Their practice includes providing opportunities for members of the public to freely observe these processes unfolding to ensure transparency and confidence in the election results. These processes occur for every federal, state and local election. In doing so, Multnomah County Elections meets both the spirit and intent of the state statute governing elections.
As Multnomah County implements ranked-choice voting for City of Portland Mayor, Auditor and City Council elections as part of our General Election this fall, the Elections Division will continue to provide factual information and resources about our elections processes. And as the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, we continue to support our trusted election directors and clerks; and encourage voters to continue to seek credible, official sources for information about elections.
As usual, Elections will post preliminary results on Election Day (November 5) after 8 p.m. and will provide regular updates until all the ballots are counted. As with other contests in previous elections, we may not know the expected outcome of contests on Election Night. As more ballots are received, the results may shift and results should not be considered final until all ballots are counted.
Above all, we will continue to build and reinforce trust in the electoral system that has proven itself time and time again.