Tracie Krevanko is the Clatsop County clerk.

County clerks are not always suited for politics or the culture wars.

Under Clatsop County’s home rule charter, the clerk is appointed, not elected. The clerk functions as the county’s official record-keeper, tracking deeds, mortgages, marriage licenses, plat maps and property tax appeals.

The clerk is also the chief election official. These days, that means being drawn into the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

Earlier this month, several local Republicans appeared before the county commission to question the integrity of Oregon’s vote-by-mail system.

Oregon first experimented with vote by mail in the 1980s. In 1998, voters agreed to expand it to all elections. A report by the Legislative Fiscal Office released in October 2020 concluded that voter fraud is exceedingly rare in Oregon and no more widespread in vote-by-mail elections than in polling-place elections. The report cited 38 state criminal convictions for voter fraud out of nearly 61 million ballots in elections from 2000 to 2019.

Tracie Krevanko, the county clerk, has sought to keep perspective.

“I believe there’s a majority of the Clatsop County voters feel that it is secure, it is fair, it’s accurate,” she said. “So we just do our best to make sure that it’s transparent so everybody can see what we’re doing anytime they want to see it. And we take great pride in our job and the democracy that we help provide for people.”

Krevanko, the vice president of the Oregon Association of County Clerks, was appointed clerk in 2017 after more than two decades of working in elections in Washington County.

In an interview, Krevanko discussed the ways voters can help make sure their ballots are counted in the November election, the false claims of widespread voter fraud and the security of the vote-by-mail system.

Q: Starting this year, voters are able to mail their ballots on Election Day. The ballots are counted if they are received up to seven days after Election Day. Did you learn anything about this practice in May that you want to share with voters for the November election?

A: Yes, they would want to make sure they put their ballot into the mail system during the day on Election Day, not wait until after 8 p.m., because more than likely it will not get postmarked is what we noticed.

If they want it postmarked, it needs to be there timely.

Q: Do you have any other advice for voters to help make sure their ballots are counted?

A: The advice I’d give voters mostly is just be sure and sign your return envelope. We get many that are not signed. And that just slows our process down.

But if they just remember to sign their ballot envelope, we’ll be good.

Q: Over the years, Clatsop County has had a few ballot errors but no significant disruption to an election. Can you give people an idea of the county’s preparation?

A: We start preparing for an election usually almost three months before an election.

But ongoing throughout the year we’re constantly moving voters in and out of our county. So as people move in, we’re adding them. As they’re moving out, we’re removing them from our voter rolls. That’s an ongoing, 12 months out of the year.

But three months prior we start formatting what we’re going to do for our ballots, like what candidates or what measures are coming. We start forecasting and we make sure everything is ordered paperwise and envelopewise.

And then, with the new option of having a voters’ pamphlet every election that the commissioners helped pass — or requested — a few years ago, there’s that preparation also.

So people have more opportunity to find out more about the people on the ballot, which we have made available.

There’s a lot of proofing that goes into it. Once the ballot is laid out, we proof and we double-proof. And then we proof again, just to make sure that ballots are laid out properly and people are going to be getting the right ballot style for where they live.

Q: Across the country, county clerks have been the targets of public records requests and other demands linked to the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. Did you observe any evidence of fraud in Clatsop County in the 2020 election?

A: I have not observed any evidence of fraud in Clatsop County since I have been here.

I’ve been here for five years. And prior to that, I was in Washington County for 25 years. So I’ve been in elections for 30 years in the state of Oregon.

We strive to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to vote, and we are very fair and transparent in our processes.

Q: Is Oregon’s vote-by-mail system safe?

A: I’d say, yes. It is very safe. It’s secure.

You have multiple ways of returning your ballot. You have the opportunity to vote at your kitchen table, at your timeline prior to the election or waiting until Election Day.

You can drop it at a drop box. You can drop it in the mailbox. Or you can bring it back into the office and drop it in our drop box in our office.

I trust the mail with my bills. I trust them with my ballot.

Q: Some local Republicans have asked the county to go back to in-person voting and hand-counting ballots. As a clerk, what are your thoughts?

A: As a clerk, I follow the election laws put before me by the state and federal government. And, at this time, the law states that I will conduct it using my tally machine. So I shall do that.

Q: So you have no judgment about whether in-person or hand-counting is superior to the tally machine or less — other than you’re required to use the machine?

A: I believe it saves a majority of money. It is easier on the voters. There is a bigger turnout.

And it’s been nothing but positive since I watched it go from the polls to vote-by-mail process …

If we were to hand-count, studies have shown that hand-counting you can have actually more errors in the quantity and the amount of races. And it’s more accurate to take a scanned picture of the ballot itself and let a machine do its thing like it’s supposed to.

And we test the machines thoroughly before and after an election to make sure everything is still reading in the way it’s supposed to be reading.

Q: Are you concerned that election deniers are eroding public trust in the democratic process?

A: There are a few people out there — a handful of people — that have given me public records requests. It’s the same thing over and over they’re wanting.

That’s just a few people. I believe there’s a majority of the Clatsop County voters feel that it is secure, it is fair, it’s accurate.

So we just do our best to make sure that it’s transparent so everybody can see what we’re doing anytime they want to see it. And we take great pride in our job and the democracy that we help provide for people.