The two candidates running to be Oregon’s next secretary of state say they would take vastly different approaches to leading an office that has seen high turnover and increased public scrutiny in recent years.

Tobias Read, a Democrat who has served as state treasurer since 2017, says he would promote transparency and work to strengthen Oregon’s elections system. His opponent, Republican state Sen. Dennis Linthicum, says he would seek to end Oregon’s vote-by-mail system and has prompted unproven claims of widespread election fraud. Linthicum is barred from seeking reelection to his seat in the Legislature after participating in a Republican-led walkout during the 2023 legislative session.

The secretary of state oversees Oregon elections, serves as the state’s chief auditor and runs the Oregon Corporation Division. They also sit on the Oregon State Land Board and serve as chair of the Oregon Sustainability Board.

Read is heavily favored to win. Oregon voters have elected just one Republican to serve as secretary of state since 1984 and Democrats currently hold every statewide elected office. Green Party candidate Nathalie Paravicini, a Portland naturopathic doctor, is also running for the office but has not raised any money for her campaign.

The secretary of state’s Office has faced increased scrutiny in recent years due to a rise in allegations of fraud related to voting and election systems.

A recent poll from Portland-based polling firm DHM Research showed just 57% of Oregonians are confident in the state’s election system.

Public trust

The next secretary of state will also be tasked with restoring public trust in the office after the resignation of the state’s last elected secretary of state. Former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan resigned in 2023 after Willamette Week reported she accepted a high-paying consulting job with a marijuana company while her office was conducting an audit of the cannabis industry. Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade was appointed to replace Fagan and is not running to keep the seat.

Read says his steady leadership of the state Treasury makes him the right candidate for the job. As treasurer, he has managed an investment portfolio valued at roughly $106 billion and has championed several financial literacy and stability initiatives, including a state-funded retirement program established in 2017 for workers without employer-sponsored retirement plans.

Prior to becoming state treasurer, Read served as a state lawmaker for a decade. In the Legislature, he championed funding full-day kindergarten and putting more money into the state’s rainy day fund. In 2022, Read ran for governor but lost to Gov. Tina Kotek by a wide margin in the Democratic primary.

If elected, Read said he would work to increase confidence in Oregon’s elections and expand access for all voters. He also intends to create and implement a methodical and objective approach to prioritize audits of state programs and agencies.

“This is an office that is about executing and ensuring and protecting democracy,” Read told The Oregonian. “It should not be about advancing one’s own extreme agenda.”

Linthicum, a former Klamath County commissioner, has served as a state senator since 2017. He was a plaintiff in an unsuccessful lawsuit filed in 2022 seeking to end Oregon’s vote-by-mail system and was one of three Oregon Republican lawmakers who signed a letter claiming that there was widespread election fraud in 2020.

If elected, Linthicum says he would conduct rigorous audits of state agencies and work to change or undo several Oregon laws that have expanded voter access. For example, he said he would attempt to roll back a 2022 law that allowed all Oregon residents to register online to vote by entering the final four digits of their Social Security number and submitting an electronic signature, claiming it creates an opportunity for voter fraud.

“My Democrat opponent is approaching the office like everything is going fine and we’re going to be OK … and I’m thinking that’s not enough,” Linthicum told The Oregonian.

Read has secured endorsements from dozens of prominent Oregon Democrats, including four former governors, three former secretaries of state and both of Oregon’s U.S. senators. He also has the support of dozens of unions and advocacy organizations, including the Oregon Alliance for Gun Safety, the Oregon Nurses Association and the Oregon State Police Officers Association.

Linthicum, meanwhile, lists no endorsements on his campaign website. He did not respond to an email from The Oregonian asking for a list of his endorsements.

Despite Read’s massive funding advantage, political experts anticipate that Linthicum will still capture much of Oregon’s Republican vote based on party affiliation alone. However, “if you’re a Republican (in Oregon) hoping to win statewide office, you’ve got to be able to reach out to some voters who are not registered Republicans,” which Linthicum has not done, said Chris Shortell, political science professor at Portland State University.

Office priorities

The next secretary of state will have the large task of implementing new campaign finance limits and modernizing the state’s online campaign finance system, which has become severely outdated. Read said his experience implementing large-scale programs at the state Treasury has prepared him for the task.

“I will immediately roll up my sleeves, assess the capacity of the office and develop plans for implementation,” Read told The Oregonian earlier this year.

Linthicum said he is confident that his experience as a state lawmaker would enable him to quickly assess the office’s needs and provide his staff with sufficient resources and support.

“The most important thing about managing a specific agency would be getting to know the skill sets, the personalities, the ability of the staff members that are part of the agency, and having enough insight into helping them achieve their best, which then serves the state of Oregon best,” Linthicum said.

The next secretary of state might have the additional responsibility of implementing ranked-choice voting statewide. Oregon voters in November will determine whether the state will join just two others in using ranked-choice voting for federal and statewide elections. Measure 117 would also allow local jurisdictions to adopt the voting system and require the secretary of state’s office to establish a voter education program for the system.

Several county clerks have raised concerns about the measure, saying that the new voting system would overburden their offices and cost millions to implement.

If elected, Read said he would work closely with individual clerks to ensure their concerns are directly addressed.

Linthicum said he is heavily opposed to ranked-choice voting and urged voters to reject the measure.