Election Oregon Votes Record Number

Hundreds of Oregon voters have reported receiving robocalls in recent days questioning their voter-registration status and indicating that their ballots won't be counted unless they update their registration. The Oregon Secretary of State's office said an investigation is being launched to determine who is behind the apparent voter-suppression effort. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)

(Don Ryan)

A flood of so-called robocalls to potentially hundreds of voters around the state prompted the Oregon Secretary of State's office Friday to reassure voters their ballots will be counted.

In a twist late in the day, however, the Oregon Republican Party said some of the calls were part of their get-out-the-vote effort targeted at Republican or Republican-leaning voters whom elections officials had placed on inactive status. Those inactive voters would not have received ballots but still have an opportunity to vote at their local county clerk's offices.

The response from Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins' office came after people around the state reported receiving automated phone calls telling them they were not registered to vote and their ballots would not be counted.

"We are not sure who is behind these calls, but we take this type of voter suppression activity very seriously," Atkins said in a statement Friday morning. "There is simply no circumstance under which an Oregonian who has received a ballot should receive a call challenging their registration status. Get your ballot in by 8 p.m. Tuesday, and your vote will be counted."

Bill Currier, chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, said the automated calls were not intended to confuse anyone.

"We're trying to make sure legitimately registered Republican voters, because that's our constituency, receive a ballot and can vote," Currier said.

The Coos County clerk's office reported fielding more than 100 calls from worried voters Thursday and Friday.

"These are bogus calls questioning peoples' voter-registration status and indicating that their ballots wouldn't be counted unless they updated their voter registration," said Terri Turi, Coos County clerk. "This is always a very busy season anyway, but we basically had to stop what we were doing and concentrate on the phones."

Elections officials in Multnomah and Clackamas counties didn't immediately return calls, but the Washington County clerk's office also reported receiving calls from area voters.

"We are getting calls from lots of folks," said Mickie Kawai, the county's elections division manager. "One person called and said he doesn't even live in the county anymore. He was miffed he was getting called at all."

In most cases, variouis clerks said, the callers were, in fact, registered to vote. In fact, most of them already had voted.

That message was amplified by Atkins, whose statement indicated that anyone who received a ballot is already registered to vote, and their ballot will be counted as long as they turn it in by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

The Secretary of State's office is describing the robocalls as an "apparent voter suppression scheme," and spokeswoman Molly Woon said the agency is working with the Oregon Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether the calls violated any laws.

"These calls went out all over the state, and our county clerks have been taking calls since last night," Woon said. The Secretary of State's office had not identified the source of the calls as of Friday afternoon but they came from at least two phone numbers, one in Oregon and one in Washington.

"The transcript of one I've seen, it's worded so carefully it's actually not clear if there's any illegal activity going on," Woon said. "But given how panicked people are, we felt we need to reassure them if they got their ballot in by 8 p.m. Tuesday, it will be counted."

Since it's now too late to mail in your ballot, you can find the closest drop box by visiting oregonvotes.gov/dropbox.

-- Hillary Borrud

503-294-4034; @hborrud

(Dana Tims, The Oregonian/OregonLive, contributed to this story)