Can the Trump administration force Oregon election changes?
SALEM, Ore. (KATU) — The Trump administration is escalating pressure on states to adopt its election security agenda.
On Friday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned states they could lose federal election funding if they refuse to participate.
"If these states want the grant and they want to be reimbursed to run federal elections, they're going to have to implement security issues," said Mullin.
He also said election officials could face investigations, fines, or even prison.
The comments come as the administration pushes states to join expanded federal election security efforts and urges Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which imposes strict identification standards to register to vote in federal elections.
"If the states that choose not to participate with the state program and they choose not to participate in securing elections, we will make sure that we make those states a priority to look at who voted in their states and hold the election officials accountable," said Mullin.
According to Mullin, 23 states are participating in the administration's election security efforts. Oregon is not among them.
Legal expert: Threats face significant constitutional limits
While the administration is projecting broad authority over state election systems, one Oregon constitutional law expert says many of those threats would face significant legal hurdles.
Norman Williams, a constitutional law professor at Willamette University College of Law, said the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the primary authority to regulate federal elections, while states remain responsible for administering elections.
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As a result, Williams said the White House cannot unilaterally require Oregon to change its vote-by-mail system or other election procedures.
Any significant changes would most likely have to come through Congress or the courts.
Williams also questioned the administration's warnings that state election officials could face criminal penalties for refusing to adopt its priorities.
"It's highly unlikely," said Williams. "There's no federal criminal statute governing state election officials."
Williams said any attempt to prosecute state election officials solely for carrying out Oregon election law would likely face significant legal challenges, as there is no federal law that broadly criminalizes how states administer elections.
What about federal funding?
Williams said the federal government may have more room to attach conditions to certain future federal election grants, although even those efforts could still face legal scrutiny.
He drew a distinction, however, between election-related funding and unrelated federal programs.
Williams said using unrelated federal funding, such as disaster relief or homeland security grants, as leverage to force election policy changes would likely exceed the federal government's constitutional authority.
"It's an entirely different thing for the Department of Homeland Security to say we're not going to give FEMA money to states to prevent terrorist attacks because those states aren't implementing election reforms that we would like," said Williams. "That's just blatant overreach, and I expect the courts to strike it down in due course."
For now, Williams said Oregonians should not expect the state's vote-by-mail system to change before the next federal election, noting that any major changes would most likely have to come through Congress or the courts, not the White House acting alone.
"Oregon voters should have confidence that nothing is going to change before the 2026 election because the election officials have been preparing for this for months and are well aware of these issues," said Williams.