Coos County, Coos County Commissioners Melissa Cribbins and John Sweet, and Coos County Interim Clerk Diris D (Dede) Murphy are defendants in an election case filed in Coos County Civil Court. Plaintiffs Diane Rich, Coos County Commissioner candidate, and Pamela Lewis, Coos County Clerk candidate, filed 11 counts of violations during the May, 2022 primary. It has gone through several amendments since the original filing in July, but now appears to be moving forward.

In the wake of several election cases heating up, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan tries to curb the distrust by launching a series of videos on voting. This isn’t the only case involving election improprieties. But she may be facing an uphill battle with five cases in Oregon courts, and 80 percent think there was election fraud.

In another lawsuit filed against the Oregon Secretary of State, it was revealed that scanners used by Coos County have not been certified for use since 2017. How can an election be certified using equipment that doesn’t meet federal guidelines for accuracy and lacks Election Assistance Commission federal certification?

The case notes that the scanners were intentionally operated contrary to the operator’s manual, which cautions it would give artificially and erroneous accuracy ratings if not followed. There were deliberate anomalies including allowing taped, or ripped ballots to be inserted into the scanner, and the use of poor-quality paper. These violations increased the adjudication rates by six percent.

In addition, Coos County ballot scanners have built-in modems. They are subject to being hacked by using a backdoor method that has surfaced in other election cases.

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

The case raises issues surrounding a possible conflict of interest on how Dede Murphy was appointed as Interim County Clerk. She resigned her position as Democrat Party Chair for Coos County in order to be appointed by the Commissioners she supported running for re-election, and named Defendants in this case.

Murphy is being accused of refusing to authorize observers to observe the signature verification process, they were given wrong times and locked out of the office. She also refused to allow observation of the ballot couriers in violation of both Federal and State laws, which calls for two couriers from different parties to transport the ballots. Then she failed to deputize couriers until after they had transported the ballots.

In addition, a nefarious marking was made on the outside of the return envelope, which was easy to read and identifies the party affiliation of the ballot contained inside.

The suit alleges that the Clerk failed to meet the reporting plan deadlines and held more than 6,000 completed ballots back for 5 days without reporting the results. Citizens were not given accurate election results in a timely manner.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-10-19 14:33:24

Last Update: 2022-10-19 16:25:15