Oregon: Kate Brown will again push for universal voter registration; “New Motor Voter” would add 300,000 Oregon eligible voters on day one | The Bulletin

Topping a list of 13 bills that Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown will push in 2015 is one that would add 300,000 voters to the state’s registry and eventually create one of the most complete voter rolls in the country. Oregon nearly created a law known as universal voter registration two years ago that would have added a half-million voters to its rolls. Under the law, eligible voters wouldn’t have to do anything to register to vote. The state would do it for them using records the Department of Motor Vehicles has on file. Brown is proposing the law again this year. Opponents are wary of costs and say voters should take initiative to register if they want to be involved in the voting process. Supporters say the process would continue a century-long progressive approach to elections in Oregon and create one of the most seamless processes for voting in the country. Brown says the onus should be on the state, not the voter, if Oregon wants to conduct open and accessible elections. The law would register residents as unaffiliated voters when records show they’re eligible. Those who don’t want to be registered could then opt out.

Oregon: Measure 92 supporters concede defeat on Oregon GMO labeling — for now | The Oregonian

Supporters of Oregon’s Ballot Measure 92 to require labeling of genetically modified foods conceded defeat Thursday morning. The Yes on 92 Campaign, thwarted in a lawsuit this week challenging the rejection of about 4,600 ballots over signature issues, sent a news release saying that it had concluded it had no other legal options. “Given the razor-thin margin in this race, and the failure to count every valid ballot, we believe that Oregonians will never know for sure what the true outcome of this race was,” the release said. “That said, we intend to abide by the judge’s decision and will not pursue any further legal action.” The measure was the subject of the costliest campaign in state history, with supporters spending more than $8 million and opponents nearly $21 million. The initial results from the Nov. 4 election showed Measure 92 failing by just 812 votes out of more than 1.5 million cast — a margin of just 0.05 percent. Anything under 0.2 percent triggers a recount.

Oregon: Measure 92 recount: All but 2 counties have turned in new GMO results | Oregonian

Only two counties remain: Clackamas and Sherman. All the others have finished their recounts in Oregon’s whisper-close Ballot Measure 92 recount on GMO labeling, according to results posted Wednesday afternoon by the Secretary of State’s Office. The tally — right now — shows the measure ahead by more than 9,000 votes. But both Clackamas and Sherman counties voted down the measure in the Nov. 4 election. If their recounts closely follow their original votes, the measure will still fail by about 800 votes. The current tally shows a net change of just 11 votes added to the yes column — far from the 812 needed to overcome the margin of defeat in the original result.

Oregon: Measure 92: Judge says no to restraining order on GMO recount results | The Oregonian

A Multnomah County judge on Tuesday rejected an effort by supporters of Ballot Measure 92 to prevent the state from certifying the results of a recount. Judge Henry Kantor denied supporters’ request, as part of a lawsuit filed Monday, for a temporary restraining order. That leaves the Secretary of State’s Office on track to certify results from a recount early next week. Most counties have finished their recounts — with no sign of changing the measure’s failure in the Nov. 4 election — and the rest have been asked to turn in results by Friday. Supporters of the measure to require labeling of genetically modified foods argued in the lawsuit that the state and Multnomah County unfairly rejected about 4,600 valid ballots because the signatures on the ballots didn’t match voter card signatures on file. Because the GMO labeling measure failed by just 812 votes out of 1.5 million cast — and is headed for a similar result in the recount — supporters argued that the ballots could change the outcome.

Oregon: Lawsuit filed in GMO labeling recount | Statesman Journal

Supporters of a measure to label genetically modified food in Oregon filed a lawsuit Monday claiming 4,600 valid votes were rejected during the statewide recount that’s underway. Nine voters have asked a judge for a restraining order to stop certification of the recount results until those 4,600 votes are counted, said Keven Glenn, spokesman for the Yes on 92 campaign. “We have said from the beginning of the recount that all valid votes should be counted, but unfortunately that is not happening currently,” said Paige Richardson, spokeswoman for the Yes on 92 campaign. The 4,600 voters were among about 13,000 who completed, signed and submitted their ballots on time, but whose votes were not counted because their signatures did not match the signature on file. They were notified and given until Nov. 18 to fix the problem. But many of those voters’ signatures changed because of illness or disability, the lawsuit claims. Some were never notified their vote was being challenged. Others tried to correct their signature with elections officials, but still find their vote is not being counted.

Oregon: GMO labeling ballot recount begins | Associated Press

Oregon election officials began tallying 1.5 million ballots by hand Tuesday, kicking off an automatic recount of a ballot measure that would require labels on genetically modified foods. Workers have until Dec. 12 to finish the recount, though some of the smaller counties expect to wrap up quickly. The first tally showed Measure 92 was defeated by less than a tenth of a percentage point — 812 votes — following the most expensive campaign in state history. Advocates on both sides of the issue spent nearly $30 million combined. The recount is conducted by four-person “counting boards” appointed by the county clerk. The counters must be registered Oregon voters, and no two of them can be members of the same political party. One voter for and one against are allowed to observe.

Oregon: Vote tally too close, recount ordered on Oregon GMO labeling | Reuters

The final vote tally on an Oregon ballot measure that would require labeling of foods made with genetically modified ingredients was so close that state officials are doing a recount, a spokesman for the state said on Tuesday. Final results show the Oregon measure losing by 812 votes out of a total of more than 1.5 million votes, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office. “State law says that if the margin is no more than one-fifth of 1 percent of the total votes cast in that election…then there shall be an automatic hand recount,” said Tony Green, spokesman for the secretary of state’s office. The recount is to take place Dec. 2-12, he said.

Oregon: Food label measure headed for recount | Associated Press

Statewide vote totals released Monday show an Oregon ballot measure that would require labeling of genetically modified foods was losing by a mere 809 votes and will go to an automatic recount. Results from all 36 counties three weeks after Election Day showed Measure 92 was defeated by a margin of only 0.06 percentage point, well under the 0.2 percent threshold for a recount. A hand tally of ballots is likely to begin the first week in December after Secretary of State Kate Brown certifies the election results, formally triggering the recount. Oregon is the fourth state in the West to reject a labeling requirement for genetically modified foods, but it was the closest tally yet. “Regardless of what the final outcome of this race is, this is a very encouraging sign for those of us who support labeling of genetically engineered foods,” said Sandeep Kaushik, a spokesman for the campaign promoting the measure. Machine counts are subject to a small margin of error, Kaushik said, and with such a razor-thin vote difference, “there is a plausible possibility that the outcome of this race will change.”

Oregon: GMO labeling measure heads into recount range as opposition margin narrows dramatically | Oregonian

The battle over a measure to require labeling of genetically altered food appeared headed to a recount Thursday as new totals showed it losing by fewer than 1,500 votes. Measure 92 moved into range of an automatic recount after Multnomah County released results that included a final batch of nearly 7,200 ballots that leaned heavily in favor of the initiative. Sandeep Kaushik, a spokesman for the Measure 92 campaign, was encouraged by the prospect of a recount, but he acknowledged that “the math is daunting” because recounts don’t usually turn around a race unless the margin is less than a few hundred votes. Pat McCormick, a spokesman for the opposition campaign, said by email that despite the latest results, “We are confident Measure 92 has been defeated.” In part, the race tightened more than some analysts — including at The Oregonian — expected because supporters took advantage of a new Oregon law publicly identifying voters who cast what are known as challenge ballots. Those are ballots in which the signature of the voter doesn’t match the signature on file or in which the voter neglected to sign the ballot.

Oregon: 94 percent of people haven’t fixed their ballots | Statesman Journal

Ninety-four percent of the Oregonians with problem ballots have yet to fix theirs, and the deadline to do so is Tuesday evening. That may not seem like a lot, but 6 percent — or 752 people — is significantly more ballot corrections than the Secretary of State normally sees following an election, spokesman Tony Green said. Only about 2 percent of people usually correct their ballot. Their ballots had a signature that didn’t match what their county clerk had on file. Why the bump in signature fixes? It’s likely due to the fact that for the first time the Secretary of State’s Office made the “challenged ballot” list public before the deadline.

Oregon: Portland security firm has a warning for email voting | Portland Business Journal

It only took a couple days and tweaks to about 50 lines of code for a pair of security researchers from Portland-based Galois to demonstrate how hackers could change an election if email voting were to move beyond the pilot phase. Researchers Joseph Kiniry and Dan Zimmerman were able to show how files could be intercepted between the voter and election office through a relatively easy hack of standard router software. The duo looked at routers that are commonly used by household Internet Service Providers. “We did experiments on how it could be deployed if we were a bad guy,” Kiniry said. “Unfortunately, the state of security on these devices on the Internet is so poor.” Plus, he noted detecting that something was wrong was difficult and would take security experts to figure out the router was not working properly.

Oregon: Voters reject change to state’s “top-two” primary system | Associated Press

Oregon voters on Tuesday rejected a big change to the state’s primary election system. They voted down Measure 90, a proposal to scrap Oregon’s current primary-election system in favor of a “top-two” format. Currently, only Democrats vote in the Democratic primary, and only Republicans vote in the Republican primary. In a top-two system, all primary candidates are on single ballot, and all registered voters can participate. The top two vote-getters then advance to the general election, even if they are from the same party.

Oregon: Online voting? Probably by 2020, Secretary of State Kate Brown says | OregonLive.com

Secretary of State Kate Brown says Oregon isn’t quite ready for online voting. But it will be soon enough. She even has a year in mind. “I believe by 2020 there will be electronic voting,” Brown said Thursday at Riverwood Assisted Living Center in Tualatin, where she met with Washington County election workers to help elderly voters cast their ballots.  Already there are signs that Oregon, the first state to embrace mail-only voting, is starting to move away from paper. The secretary of state’s office has been dipping its toes into Internet voting technology, although Brown acknowledges advances would be necessary — both in cyber security and voter confidence — for a fully-fledged electronic system to work. Brown acknowledged she has some security concerns about a completely computerized system, however. The paper trail left by mail-in ballots is more transparent and leaves an easy way for county clerks to conduct a recount if necessary, she said. Voters can even go see the ballots counted in person.

Oregon: Bad signatures top reason for ballot rejection | Blue Mountain Eagle

Signature problems were the top reason ballots in the state’s vote-by-mail system got tossed out in the 2010 mid-term election, according to data from Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown’s office. County clerks in 30 Oregon counties ­— six didn’t report data — rejected nearly 5,000 ballots in that election because signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file, and more than 3,200 ballots were discarded because they lacked any signature. Approximately 1,900 ballots arrived too late to be counted. The counties that did not report the numbers of ballots they rejected in the 2010 mid-term election were Curry, Grant, Lincoln, Malheur, Tillamook and Wheeler counties. The number of rejected ballots translates to a tiny fraction of the total ballots cast. Less than 1 percent of the 1.4 million ballots cast were rejected in the 2010 mid-term, and similar percentages in other recent elections. Nonetheless, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office and an expert on early voting said there are ways that Oregon could improve.

Oregon: Voters get 2nd shot at ‘top-two’ primaries | Associated Press

For the half-million Oregon voters who reject party labels, the May election ballot can be pretty boring. Shut out of the Republican and Democratic primaries, this growing bloc of voters is left with a handful of nonpartisan local races and a perplexing question: Is it necessary to vote for all these judges running unopposed? This November, Oregon voters decide whether to enliven their primary ballots. Under Measure 90, the state would abandon partisan primaries and adopt a top-two election system similar to what is used in neighboring Washington and California.

Oregon: Portland’s electoral system loses under California law aimed at ensuring minority representation | The Oregonian

Congress approved the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to break down the kind of system that the city of Portland uses to this day. The federal legislation prohibits voting practices that discriminate against African Americans, Latinos or other racial and ethnic minorities. Most successful lawsuits filed under the civil rights law have targeted local governments that elect representatives citywide rather than by geographic district. Courts ruled that some Southern cities used at-large elections to water down the voting power of African Americans, who lived clustered in one part of town but formed a minority of the total electorate.

Oregon: Top-two primary initiative qualifies for November ballot |Statesman Journal

Oregonians could dramatically alter the way they choose candidates if a ballot initiative to open the state’s primary elections passes in November. The open or top-two primary initiative qualified Tuesday for the November ballot with 91,716 valid signatures, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. The measure would create a new, nonpartisan primary election process where candidates from all parties appear on a single ballot. The two candidates who received the most votes in that election would advance to a general election. “We are very happy; excited,” chief petitioner James Kelly said. “We’ve been waiting a long time.” Washington and California both have open primaries, but Oregon voters overwhelmingly rejected a similar measure in 2008.

Oregon: Website breach: State officials failed to patch ‘high risk’ software problem | OregonLive.com

The hackers who breached the Oregon Secretary of State’s website in February probably exploited software that cybersecurity websites had identified as vulnerable but that state IT officials had not patched, documents and information obtained by The Oregonian show. On Friday, agency spokesman Tony Green said the hackers first gained access to the site Jan. 21. That’s one week earlier than previously disclosed and two weeks before the breach was detected Feb. 4. The attack, possibly from China or North Korea, prompted officials to take the state’s campaign finance and business registry databases offline for about three weeks. State officials also closed international access to the entire website for weeks, and this week declined to say what controls on foreign traffic remain.

Oregon: Backers of ‘top two’ nonpartisan primary say they have enough signatures to make ballot | The Oregonian

James Kelly, the chief petitioner of an initiative that would radically rewrite Oregon’s primary system, said Thursday that he believes his group has gathered enough signatures to get on the November ballot. Kelly, a Portland businessman who now lives on an eastern Oregon ranch, said his group will finish petitioning Friday and most likely turn in signatures early next week.  He said they’ve collected about 145,000 signatures, which gives them a large margin to ensure they have the 87,213 valid signatures from registered voters needed to qualify. Kelly’s initiative would replace Oregon’s partisan primary races with the type of system now used in California and Washington. Under this system, all of the candidates would be listed on the same primary ballot, and the top two finishers regardless of party would advance to the general election.

Oregon: Outside software blamed for Oregon secretary of state computer breach | KATU

A piece of third-party software that hadn’t been updated might have been the vulnerable point invaded by hackers of the Oregon secretary of state’s website, a state report found. The February breach took election and business records offline for nearly three weeks, delaying disclosure of campaign-finance information and forcing staff to handle many functions by hand. Citing security concerns, officials wouldn’t name the suspect software but described it as an application development tool commonly used by governments and private-sector organizations. They say the software has now been patched, and they’re working to have future security updates installed automatically.

Oregon: Oregon Secretary of State website breach cost taxpayers $177,000 | The Oregonian

The February breach of the Oregon Secretary of State’s website cost taxpayers about $176,662, including about $4,500 for meals and lodging to allow employees to work through a snowstorm. The breach was detected Feb. 4 and knocked the agency’s elections and business registry databases offline for nearly three weeks. The largest expense — about $72,450 — went to Virtual Security Research for “vulnerability testing,” according to cost figures obtained by The Oregonian through a public records request

Oregon: Secretary of State website breach: Database users asked to change passwords to personal accounts | OregonLive

The Oregon Secretary of State’s office has deleted all passwords for users of its business and elections databases after a breach of its website Feb. 4. Users are also asked to change their passwords to personal accounts if they used the same passwords for the Secretary of State’s Central Business Registry or ORESTAR, the state’s campaign finance reporting system. It’s unclear if the hackers accessed the passwords, but the agency is recommending that the passwords to personal accounts be changed as a precautionary measures, agency spokesman Tony Green said. “The investigation so far indicates that sensitive personal information was not compromised,” said an agency email sent Thursday night to database users.

Oregon: Internet voting study shelved by lawmakers | OregonLive

Lawmakers on Wednesday shelved legislation that would have required the Oregon Secretary of State’s office to study the feasibility of Internet voting. Senate Bill 1515 came under intense criticism from opponents who cited the state’s questionable track record of information technology projects and the Feb. 4 hack of the Secretary of State’s website. The agency’s business and elections databases returned online last weekend after a nearly three-week outage. Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro, sponsored the bill and voted for it when it passed the Senate on Feb. 20. But on Wednesday, he asked the House Rules Committee to kill the bill.

Oregon: Secretary of State website back online after hacker attack | KATU

Oregon’s secretary of state’s website was fully back in business Monday after “an unauthorized intrusion” earlier this month, according to the agency. But in a statement, the secretary of state’s office warned that while all systems were working again, some applications may need to be taken down temporarily to fix any bugs. “I appreciate the enormous patience that Oregonians have demonstrated during the website outage,” said Secretary Kate Brown in a statement. “I’d also like to thank everyone in this office who worked incredibly long hours to restore these important services as quickly and securely as possible.”

Oregon: Proposal to study online vote advances | Statesman Journal

With submitted public opinion running heavily against the idea, the Senate last week voted to pass a bill to the House that proposes studying the feasibility of Internet voting in Oregon. Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro, carried Senate Bill 1515 and told the chamber that he’d been advised that the Secretary of State’s office had said it could absorb a study under the current budget, “so cost wouldn’t be an issue,” Starr said. But a half-dozen Oregonians commenting in earlier committee hearings voiced strong opposition to online voting for a variety of reasons. Sam Croskell of Portland wrote that the state’s track record with Cover Oregon’s website and the recent security breach at the Secretary of State’s office were sufficient proof that the risks associated with online voting weren’t worth taking.

Oregon: Secretary of state to ask lawmakers for cash to fix hacked website | Associated Press

Secretary of State Kate Brown has informed the Oregon Legislature that she’ll be asking for money to hire a security contractor to fix her website, which was taken offline after hackers broke in. Brown’s office hired a contractor to review security upgrades and another to help manage communication with website users, said Tony Green, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office. Brown’s office has cut off access to the state’s business registry and campaign finance records since the hacking was discovered Feb. 4. Officials have said little about what information was compromised or when the website will work, but they insist personal information is safe. The hackers did not get access to the state’s central voter registration database, officials say. Green declined again Friday to say when the website might return or whether the public can be assured of having access to campaign finance information before the primary in May or local elections next month. The office has suspended fines for businesses that are late in paying annual fees.

Oregon: Senate approves Internet voting study | Associated Press

The Oregon Senate on Thursday set the wheels in motion for studying the possibility of Internet voting, with proponents arguing the state could become a national pioneer as it did with vote by mail. Doubters pointed to the troubles of Cover Oregon’s website as an argument against tackling large Internet projects. Lawmakers approved a bill that would order the secretary of state to name a work group to examine issues surrounding a possible statewide Internet voting system. It gives the group until Dec. 1 to report its findings, including any estimated costs or savings and what would be needed to comply with federal elections laws.

Oregon: Internet voting study approved by Oregon Senate | OregonLive.com

Despite concerns about ballot security, the Oregon Senate on Thursday approved 18 to 11 a bill to study the feasibility of Internet voting. Senate Bill 1515 would establish a work group to study the issue and submit a report to the Legislature by Dec. 1. The bill now goes to the House. Opponents brought up the botched rollout of the Cover Oregon health insurance exchange and this month’s data breach of the Oregon Secretary of State’s website that continues to keep elections and business databases offline. The record, they said, made them question the state’s technological ability to ensure ballot security.

Oregon: Secretary of State contacts FBI over website hacking | KATU

More than two weeks after the Oregon secretary of state’s office said it detected and stopped an intrusion into the agency’s website, the breach could now be the subject of a federal investigation. Spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, Tony Green, told the On Your Side Investigators that the agency reached out to the FBI after its campaign finance portion of the website was compromised in early February. They also contacted the Oregon State Police, which investigates cybercrimes. “This appears to be an orchestrated intrusion from a foreign entity and not the result of any employee activities,” according to the agency’s website.

Oregon: Internet voting would be studied under bill advanced by Senate panel | OregonLive

A panel of Oregon lawmakers Tuesday took a small first step toward Internet voting by advancing a bill to study its feasibility, despite concerns about ballot security. Senate Bill 1515 would establish a work group to study the issue and submit a report to the Legislature by Dec. 1. The full Senate is expected to vote on the bill in the coming days. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro, said studying the concept doesn’t mean the state will definitely move toward Internet voting. Opponents charge that electronic voting systems would be susceptible to malicious hacks that could compromise the security of ballots, especially in light of this month’s breach of the Oregon Secretary of State’s website.