OREGON CITY -- The Oregon Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into possible ballot tampering at the Clackamas County Elections Office.

"We can confirm we are currently investigating criminal felony violations of Oregon’s elections laws, which allegedly took place in Clackamas County and allegedly involved a temporary county elections employee tampering with cast ballots," said Jeff Manning, spokesman for the Department of Justice.

Manning did not name the woman under investigation. The Department of Justice launched its investigation after the Oregon Secretary of State's Office referred the case to them, he said. The Secretary of State's Office handles elections complaints but does not investigate felony matters.

More

It's unclear how many ballots might have been affected, he said. "One of the primary goals of the investigation is to determine that," he said.

It's also unclear if the woman worked in the Elections Office during previous elections, he said.

Manning emphasized that the department is investigating the matter promptly since the Nov. 6 election is just four days away. "Just given the timing, obviously, this is a high priority case for us at this point," he said.

Meanwhile, the campaign of Clackamas County Chairwoman Charlotte Lehan

.

The tampering "was a Republican effort," and Lehan's campaign is considering asking the Secretary of State's Office to step in and run the election, said Chris Edmonds, Lehan's campaign manager.

The state investigation was launched after the Clackamas County Elections Office reported the incident, Clackamas County Clerk Sherry Hall said this morning.

"It happened on Wednesday and we immediately reported it to the Secretary of State on Wednesday afternoon," Hall said.

Hall also confirmed the investigation but declined to comment further, saying she did not want to jeopardize the ongoing investigation.

Hall's office made a

, including mistakenly placing two races on the May primary ballot instead of the November general election ballot.

In the case of county commissioner Position 3 pitting Ann Lininger against James Needham, the state Elections Division directed Hall to

.

--