Oregon county clerks struggling to recruit, hire, train election staff: Study

(The Center Square) - County clerks in Oregon are having a hard time recruiting, hiring, and training county elections staff, a study published by Reed College found.

A study commissioned by the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division wanted to better understand the issues county clerks face in the run-up to the 2024 general election.

Researchers at Reed College’s Elections and Voting Information Center spent months interviewing almost every Oregon county clerk. The researchers compiled the findings in a study they presented to the state legislature on Tuesday.

“This report is a grim but realistic look at what our county clerks face,” Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade said in a press release. “But it’s also a testament to their professionalism and ingenuity.”

Here are some of the study’s key findings:

• Staffing recruitment and retention is hampered by out-of-date job classifications, compensations, and perceptions of the work. Staffing today is at or below staffing levels from a decade ago.

• Public records requests are becoming increasingly burdensome, as false information is spread and distrust in elections systems continues to fuel more frequent and complicated requests for information.

• Local elections offices are experiencing retirements, resignations, and loss of expertise. Since 2020, 34% of county clerks have retired or resigned.

• Oregon’s funding model for county elections, dependent largely on fluctuations in interest rates and the real estate market, is inadequate for election needs. Counties are already laying off workers because of this outdated funding model.

• Elections officials and staff are subject to unacceptable levels of abuse, threats, and harassment, driving many of them to quit despite expressing their pride and passion for the work.

The report also found that small and medium-sized counties lack the technological solutions that could help them better manage elections. Additionally, it blamed the "current corrosive political environment" for resulting in high levels of stress and burnout. Plus, the report found that even talking about work made some of these people upset.

"One in five of our interviews required us to stop to allow participants to collect themselves after the emotional toll of this work bubbled to the surface of our interviews," the report said.

One individual told researchers, “We have active shooter training that we've done. We kind of know how to recognize some of the signs that somebody might be escalating versus deescalating.”

Another person told researchers “I saw in [previous Clerk] this love and passion that I didn’t know was there. It pushed me into really caring and loving and making sure that people really know what they had, and how important elections are, and the rights they have. And if you are not involved, it’s really hard to see change.”

The Oregon Association of County Clerks requested that the study be commissioned after hearing concerns from election officials about “the changing electoral landscape,” the release said.

Before the study, officials lacked sufficient data to capture their needs. The study aimed to reveal the staffing issues faced across the state and to provide more information for Oregon clerks to use “when advocating for increased investment,” the release said.

“For the last few years, we have heard hundreds of anecdotes about underfunding and understaffing at county elections offices, both here in Oregon and around the country,” Secretary Griffin-Valade said. “Now, we have some real data to back up those anecdotes. We call on legislators and county governments to read this report and consider its recommendations.”