# Vote suppression in Oregon **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 5, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668 "2016-11-05T03:39:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/1 "2016-11-05T03:39:30Z")
There’s a robo-call based [vote suppression](http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/11/hundreds_of_voters_hit_by_vote.html) scheme going on around Oregon right now. Unfortunately that article does not mention what party the people being called are in, so we can’t tell who’s doing it. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/2 "2016-11-05T03:53:28Z")
Oregon voters can check their registration and ballot status at [Welcome to ORESTAR !](https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/vr/showVoterSearch.do?lang=eng&source=SOS) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/3 "2016-11-05T04:40:46Z")
You people can’t even pump your own gas! You expect to be trusted to choose the Leader of The Free World? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/4 "2016-11-05T04:57:40Z")
It doesn’t sound like it’s actually voter suppression, or at least that that was the intent. It’s Republican GOTV efforts. The call is: > [@](#): > > “A review of voter registration records in [your county] indicate that your voter registration may be marked inactive. This could be the result of a change in address recently or the Motor Voter law that was enacted this year. This means you may not have received your ballot in the mail for next Tuesday’s election.” and then it gives you the phone number of your county office. So it’s basically the Republicans reaching out to Republican voters saying, “Hey, you might have a problem with your voter registration and may not have gotten your ballot. If you didn’t, here’s the number you can call to get it straightened out.” But since people are idiots who don’t listen to things, people who did get their ballot and voted already freak out and call the Board of Elections in a panic. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/5 "2016-11-05T05:07:47Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > It doesn’t sound like it’s actually voter suppression, or at least that that was the intent. It’s Republican GOTV efforts. How do you know this? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/6 "2016-11-05T06:37:37Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > How do you know this? The story in your OP, for one. > [@](#): > > In a twist late in the day, however, the Oregon Republican Party said some of the calls were part of their get-out-the-vote effort targeted at Republican or Republican-leaning voters whom elections officials had placed on inactive status. Those inactive voters would not have received ballots but still have an opportunity to vote at their local county clerk’s offices. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/7 "2016-11-05T08:48:44Z")
That can’t be the answer for most of those getting the calls. The story says most have already received ballots and returned them. Unless the Republicans misunderstood the status those voters had been given. That is, they thought they were inactive, but were not or something along those lines. ETA: perhaps those people were put on inactive status because they made some kind of mistake in this election. I’m not sure how fast such status changes are made, so don’t know the plausibility of this idea. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/8 "2016-11-05T12:28:09Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > That can’t be the answer for most of those getting the calls. Why not? Never underestimate the ability of people to screw things up. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/9 "2016-11-05T14:04:25Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Why not? Never underestimate the ability of people to screw things up. Or the ability to make up stories on the fly when they get caught doing something illegal. If it were as they claim, why didn’t they identify themselves sometime during the call, and why wasn’t it targeted at Republican voters? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/10 "2016-11-05T14:09:35Z")
How was the information that it was the Republican Party behind this found out? Did they inform the media after realizing that there was a problem, or did the media dig out the info on their own? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/11 "2016-11-05T14:12:05Z")
In other news, [some schmucks got suspended from Twitter after circulating ads telling people they could vote remotely](http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article112509447.html). Lame joke, or electoral fraud? YOU DECIDE. In other news, [Republican-controlled elections boards in NC have allowed the mass disenfranchisement of minority voters by conservative activists](http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article112622158.html). Fortunately a judge has issued an emergency order to reinstate those voter registrations, calling the process by which they were purged “insane” and “like something that was put together in 1901.” Legitimate protection of the election process, or systemic voter suppression? YOU DECIDE! oh wait, the judge already did, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/12 "2016-11-05T14:58:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Or the ability to make up stories on the fly when they get caught doing something illegal. If it were as they claim, why didn’t they identify themselves sometime during the call, and why wasn’t it targeted at Republican voters? How do you know it wasn’t targeted at Republican voters? And the wording of the robocall said “This means you may not have received your ballot in the mail for next Tuesday’s election.” So that’s who it was targeted to. If somebody already got their ballot, the call doesn’t apply to them. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/13 "2016-11-05T15:31:16Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > How do you know it wasn’t targeted at Republican voters? And the wording of the robocall said “This means you may not have received your ballot in the mail for next Tuesday’s election.” So that’s who it was targeted to. If somebody already got their ballot, the call doesn’t apply to them. From the OP’s link: > [@](#): > > in a twist late in the day, however, the Oregon Republican Party said some of the calls were part of their get-out-the-vote effort targeted at Republican or Republican-leaning voters whom elections officials had placed on inactive status. Those inactive voters would not have received ballots but still have an opportunity to vote at their local county clerk’s offices. , so that _is_ the claim, _but_ > [@](#): > > In most cases, variouis clerks said, the callers were, in fact, registered to vote. In fact, most of them already had voted. Be that as it may, officials are taking this seriously, because > [@](#): > > The Secretary of State’s office is describing the robocalls as an “apparent voter suppression scheme,” and spokeswoman Molly Woon said the agency is working with the Oregon Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether the calls violated any laws. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/14 "2016-11-05T15:39:09Z")
If most of them had already voted, then how the hell do you suppress those votes? This is the Oregon SoS’s office overreacting. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/15 "2016-11-05T15:44:23Z")
I am confused what the mechanism of suppression is here. If I’ve voted and I get a call saying there’s an error in my registration, won’t that motivate me to go out and fix it? Voter suppression should stop voter action, not encourage it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/16 "2016-11-05T15:52:22Z")
I think that what is being shown here is that they pulled that claim that they were targeting a specific list of Republicans out of their ass. What was actually happening was that they were doing a massive random call-out hoping to confuse and discourage voters that hadn’t voted yet, but that it came too late to be effective(hopefully) because a lot of those called had already voted. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/17 "2016-11-05T15:56:07Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I am confused what the mechanism of suppression is here. If I’ve voted and I get a call saying there’s an error in my registration, won’t that motivate me to go out and fix it? Voter suppression should stop voter action, not encourage it. It does discourage some who think that they’ve already gone through this much hassle and resent that now they will supposedly have to go through even more in the short time there is left, and will just say “Fuck it-my candidate will probably win anyway.” ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/18 "2016-11-05T15:59:30Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I think that what is being shown here is that they pulled that claim that they were targeting a specific list of Republicans out of their ass. What was actually happening was that they were doing a massive random call-out hoping to confuse and discourage voters that hadn’t voted yet, but that it came too late to be effective(hopefully) because a lot of those called had already voted. All Oregon ballots are mail ballots, though. How does, “If you haven’t received your ballot in the mail yet, call your county electoral offices to straighten it out?”, discourage somebody from voting? If you want to discourage somebody from voting, wouldn’t it be smarter just to not say anything, so that somebody who didn’t get their ballot in the mail wouldn’t think about it, and somebody who did would have a greater chance of just ignoring it? “Hey, call the state if you didn’t get your ballot” is the worst way to stop voting. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/19 "2016-11-05T16:05:35Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > All Oregon ballots are mail ballots, though. Yes, they come with an unstamped envelope, but a lot of voters skip the effort of waiting in line to buy postage stamps just to mail them in, and wait until the last minute to drop them off in one of the official drop boxes. edited to add: If someone gets this call, they might think, “Well, if I’m not registered I have to wait in line to wait in line to register AND wait in line to drop off the ballot. Screw that.” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668/20 "2016-11-05T22:48:25Z")
One thing about this: The parties should know who have turned in their ballots. I believe that information is provided by the state. I know I’ve gotten calls from the Dems a few days before the election to get my ballot in. I always return mine on Election Day and they knew I hadn’t turned it in yet. So at the very least this is incompetance by the Rs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vote-suppression-in-oregon/770668.md?page=2)