State Officials Are Investigating a Multnomah County Deputy Who Shouted "Trump!" at Voters on Election Day

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While Mike Reese was waiting to be formally christened Multnomah County sheriff on November 8, one of his subordinates was pushing a very different candidate.

As we reported at the time, numerous witnesses reported that a Multnomah County deputy rolled past people waiting in line at a ballot drop-off location near county headquarters and said something to the effect of "Trump!" or "Vote Trump!" through his county vehicle's PA system.

On its face, the incident appeared to be a breach of state law, which says "a person may not do any electioneering by public address system located more than 100 feet from an entrance to the building if the person is capable of being understood within 100 feet of the building." The county's election director, Tim Scott, told the Mercury at the time he didn't believe that would hold up.

Nevertheless one state agency is investigating the incident. The Oregon Secretary of State's office confirms its elections staff is looking into the deputy's antics, after receiving a formal complaint from a Vancouver, Washington resident.

"I urge you to take action against this inappropriate use of power and violation of Oregon state law," complainant Elizabeth Porter wrote in the November 14 complaint. Under Oregon law, it's illegal for a public employee to campaign for any candidate during working hours.

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office declined to release the name of the deputy in question when we asked, citing an "open internal investigation." But spokesperson Lt. Chad Gaidos also told the Mercury that that investigation hasn't really begun yet. Gaidos says the MCSO is waiting until the Secretary of State's inquiry concludes to move forward.

"All those outside matters have to be cleared," he said.

Gaidos claimed that the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office had already looked into whether the anonymous deputy broke state law, and had declined charges. But if that's true, it was news to one of county's top prosecutors.

"We don’t find any record of this case being reviewed by our office," says Chief Deputy District Attorney Kirsten Snowden. Snowden said it was hard to be absolutely sure, since she doesn't know the deputy's identity, but that she "checked with all the point-of-entry [deputy district attorneys] who would typically screen a case like this and none of them have seen it."