The Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division on Thursday shut down its phone lines following a barrage of calls from people responding to a false claim that the state's voters' pamphlet does not include Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The pamphlet does list the former president as a candidate and notes that he declined to provide a statement about why people should vote for him, the AP reports. Trump will appear on the state's ballot.
A post on X from the account Libs of TikTok last week falsely claimed Trump wasn't included in the pamphlet and asked, "What's going on?" The Oregon GOP issued a statement noting that the decision not to provide a statement was a choice that Trump's campaign made earlier this year. But the false claim suggesting election interference continued to spread on social media, and on Thursday, the Elections Division said its phone lines had been overwhelmed. Officials said the system was shut down about noon.
"Oregonians who need assistance will now have to wait because some individuals operating in bad faith are misleading people online," Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade said in a news release. "Spreading rumors and false claims of election interference does nothing to help Oregonians." A spokesperson for the office said that many of the calls were abusive and that several were threatening, per Oregon Public Broadcasting. USA Today debunks the false post here. (More Oregon stories.)
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