Through a public records request, Tim Sippel sought the ballot database for a public test of the Washington County election system. The County denied the request. The Washington County District Attorney then ordered the County to produce the database. In response, Washington County filed a lawsuit in the Washington County Circuit Court seeking a declaration that it does not have to produce the database. Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan has now intervened, joining the case against Mr. Sippel. In the motion to intervene, the case is presented that “The Secretary of State is the chief elections officer of this state, and it is the secretary’s responsibility to obtain and maintain uniformity in the application, operation and interpretation of the election laws.”

Through a separate approved public records request, Janice Dysinger of Clean Voter Rolls, sought among other things the ballot images from the November 2020 Election. The request did not include a SQL data base.

Clean Voter Rolls is a Political Action Committee that promotes accurate Oregon voter rolls, which are necessary for fair elections. Dysinger asked Mr. Sippel to pick up the records for her because Mr. Sippel was close to the office. Among the documents provided by the County was a backup of the SQL database for the November 2020 Election, not just the public test.

The county contends it did not intend to produce the database. When Washington County learned that Mr. Sippel had the copy of the 2020 Election Database produced by Washington County, they sought and were granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing Mr. Sippel from copying or disseminating the database. Washington County and Oregon claimed that it would be irreparably harmed if Mr. Sippel distributed the database because it would present some unspecified security risk to the election system in Washington County and 14 other Oregon counties.

The case Washington County v Tim Sippel, is set for Sept 20th and 21st at the Washington County Courthouse at 150 N. First Ave in Hillsboro from 9:00am-5:00pm. The pubic may attend.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Expert, national known witnesses scheduled to testify are election data analyst Dr. Douglas G. Frank, and cyber security expert Mark Cook. Mr. Sippel contends the ballot database is a public record, he is entitled to possess it, and that the County has no grounds to contend that dissemination of the database to the public would be a security risk. The Washington County DA agreed and ordered the data released to Mr. Sippel. The County Elections disagreed and sued Mr. Sippel and the Secretary of State intervened, joining in the lawsuit against Mr. Sippel.

In defense of the Secretary of State, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum argued:

“Even when systems are not directly connected to networks, they are vulnerable to attack through physical or wireless access.” Oregon election officials have stated for years that the tabulators are not connected to the internet. They are "air gapped". Public interest in election policies has heightened after the release of recent information surrounding the 2020 election from various sources.

Legal fees for Mr. Sippel are being provided by Free Oregon. Donations are being accepted at the Free Oregon link, according to Ben Edtl, CEO of Free Oregon and State Senate Candidate in District 19 who is challenging democrat Senate Leader Rob Wagner. Rep Rob Wagner has been a leader for the recent 2021 Legislative bills that weaken Oregon’s elections, including carrying the HB2681 to the House floor for a vote. HB 2681 keeps inactive electors on the voter rolls bloating the voter rolls forever and Wagner also was the Chief sponsor for HB3291 that allow ballots to be accepted 7 days after election day, even without a postal indicator pointed on them.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2022-09-20 10:10:10

Last Update: 2022-09-20 10:32:51