Fact Check: Oregon Did NOT Leave Trump Out Of Voters’ Pamphlet For Political Reasons — Campaign Declined To Participate
Did Oregon officials omit Donald Trump from a voters’ pamphlet about candidates in the 2024 election for political reasons? No, that’s not true: Trump’s campaign chose not to submit information for the pamphlet, according to a statement from the Oregon GOP. A spokeswoman for Oregon’s Secretary of State told Lead Stories that their office contacted the Trump campaign multiple times to make sure it was aware of the pamphlet’s deadline, and that she doesn’t know why the campaign declined to participate.
The claim was implied in a post (archived here) on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, on October 10, 2024. The post read:
Oregon voter pamphlets do not include Donald Trump. He also is not listed on the Oregon State Government website under presidential candidates. What’s going on?
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Oct 11 8:29:11 2024 UTC)
While it’s true that former President Trump does not appear in the Oregon voters’ pamphlet (archived here) about candidates for the 2024 election, this is because his campaign declined to provide information.
In a post on X (archived here) on October 10, 2024, the Oregon GOP confirmed that Trump’s campaign declined to provide information for the pamphlet. The post is copied below:
This decision was made by the Trump campaign itself, not the RNC or ORP. If it’s getting people as fired up to vote as it seems to be doing, maybe it wasn’t the wrong strategic decision. Let’s get out the vote within 48 hours of receiving your ballot next week!@realDonaldTrump https://t.co/PTGW0659fk
— Oregon GOP (@Oregon_GOP) October 10, 2024
Lead Stories contacted the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees election preparations, to ask about the original claim. Spokeswoman Laura Kerns indicated that her office had encouraged the Trump campaign to submit information for the pamphlet. In an email to Lead Stories, dated October 11, 2024, she wrote:
Our office reached out to the campaign multiple times to make sure they were aware of the deadline. It is the Secretary’s position that every leading candidate should be in the pamphlet, because it’s confusing to voters when they don’t see someone they are expecting to see on the ballot.
We don’t know why the Trump campaign declined to provide a statement. Submitting information to the voters’ pamphlet is voluntary. Donald Trump also did not provide a statement for the May primary pamphlet.
Lead Stories also contacted the Trump campaign to ask about the claim and why it decided not to submit information for the Oregon voters’ pamphlet. We will update this fact check, as appropriate, if we receive a response.
Trump will still appear on the ballot in Oregon for the 2024 presidential election.
His name appears on the Oregon Secretary of State’s website in this list (archived here) of which candidates provided information for the voters’ pamphlet and which did not. A screenshot of the list can be seen below:
(Source: Screenshot from ORSOS/Newsroom taken on Fri Oct 11 20:37:26 2024 UTC)
In a statement (archived here) beneath the list, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade noted a candidate’s decision not to submit information for the pamphlet does not mean they won’t be on the 2024 ballot in Oregon. She said:
Not every candidate chooses to submit a statement, and that’s fine. It has no impact on the choices voters have in November.
In addition to providing an information statement, presidential candidates who want to be included in the state’s pamphlet must pay a $3,500 fee (archived here).
According to spokeswoman Kerns, it’s not uncommon for candidates to decline to submit statements for the pamphlet. Though, she wrote: “[I]t is rare coming from a Presidential candidate from a major party.”
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to Donald Trump can be found here. Our fact checks of other claims about the 2024 U.S. general election are here.
