Democratic Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read responded Friday to a Justice Department letter on election records preservation, asking Acting Assistant Attorney General R. Trent McCotter to “read the Constitution,” after McCotter’s letter misspelled his last name as “Reed.”
McCotter cited a congressional law to “remind” Read in a letter Thursday that he must keep ballots, voter registration forms and other election documents for 22 months. The letter comes as the federal government continues its scrutiny of the midterm elections.
Read said in a written response: “As Secretaries of State across the country know, effective election administration requires professionalism, competence and attention to detail. It is in this spirit that I would point out to you that my name is spelled READ, as in “read the Constitution.”
In a statement to CNN, Read said: “In Oregon, we take seriously our responsibility to protect free and fair American elections. We respect the law and the Constitution. The federal government should do the same.”
The Justice Department told CNN in a statement: “Election integrity is and remains a top priority. In order to bring charges of illegal voting and registration, the Department relies on state voting records. We simply remind them of their obligation under federal law to preserve these records.”
The Justice Department is putting increasing pressure on election officials across the country, particularly to combat non-citizen voting. On Friday, a federal judge imposed a sweeping emergency order that halted the DOJ’s efforts and stopped it from threatening election officials with criminal charges.
This post has been updated.
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