Oregon Secretary of State, Shemia Fagan, announced the launching of a series of “Voting in Oregon Feels Good” public education campaign. She says it is aimed to “pre-bunk” false election information by proactively reaching voters with accurate information from an official, trusted source.

This is the second media campaign to debunk common myths to combat false information. The first video of “Voting in Oregon Feels Good” launched in April was focused on registering to vote.

Secretary Fagan says, “I want the characters in these videos to be to Oregon elections what Smokey the Bear is to wildfire prevention.” It seems like a good analogue since Smokey was a fictional bear created by artist Albert Staehle in 1944. It was the bear’s publicity slogan that became the familiar pledge, “Only you can prevent forest fires.”

The campaign is animated with a pink Easter bunny and giant-colored eggs in a 1970’s style, featuring dozens of Oregon landmarks, characters and scenes from across the State. The first spot, Journey of a Ballot, Fagan says explains the features of how vote-by-mail protects the integrity of our elections. Let’s fact check:

• Every signature is verified. After the ballots are scanned, an election worker sets at a computer and compares signatures on the envelope to the voter registration signature. This is done before the ballot is scanned. Some counties are now experimenting with software to match signatures.
• Oregon keeps voter registration lists updated. It doesn’t appear that way from the backside. HB 2681 keeps people on the voter rolls forever. Unless someone moving out of state cancels their registration, it remains in the system to receive future ballots. Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State for not cleaning voter rolls under the Voter Act of 1983.
• All counties do post election audits before the Secretary of State certifies the results. According to Deborah Scroggin, Secretary of State elections division director, Oregon law requires random sampling hand counts or risk-limiting audits in all counties following primary, general and special elections. Ballots are allowed to go through the postal system for seven days after election day with a postal indicator, but were allowed in the Primary without a postal indicator.
• You can track your ballot at Oregonvotes.gov. Tim Sippel testified in court that in his examination of ballots, every ballot had a unique identifying code on it and the ballots are not anonymous. This is what makes it possible for you to track your ballot. The post office also takes pictures of ballots and registration forms.

Secretary Fagan said. “This campaign is as fun as it is informative, with Oregon-focused animations that stand out from other government messages. When you see the videos and social media posts, I hope you’ll take a moment to remember why Oregonians are very proud of vote-by-mail.”

“Research shows that once a person forms a belief about elections it’s very hard to change their mind,” Secretary Fagan said. “That’s why it’s critical for elections officials to get ahead of false information by sharing the fact that Oregon has had free and fair elections through vote-by-mail for over 20 years. When Oregonians know all the steps elections workers take to protect the integrity of our elections, it completely undercuts the conspiracy theories from proponents of the Big Lie.”

To produce “Voting in Oregon Feels Good,” the Oregon Elections Division used a competitive bidding process to hire Oregon-based creative agency Happylucky, a Portland-based design firm. The budget for the project is $350,000 — allocated from one-time funding approved during the 2022 short session by the Oregon Legislature. The campaign will target low turnout voters with ad buys on social media, CTV, broadcast TV and podcast platforms. The ads will be produced in English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Somali. The first ads launched on Monday, October 10.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-10-15 12:43:01

Last Update: 2022-10-15 17:49:34