ICYMI: Leaked Audio Highlights Drazan Campaign’s Hypocrisy on Mail-In Voting

For Immediate Release
Friday, August 21, 2026
Contact: [email protected]

Portland, OR - A new report from the Portland Mercury reveals that Christine Drazan's campaign is training supporters to use ballot collecting to boost her campaign, despite Drazan's "efforts to nix Oregon's vote-by-mail system."

• In 2025, Drazan introduced legislation that would completely upend Oregon's voting system, establishing in-person voting as the default method, despite nearly 30 years of safe and reliable elections held primarily by mail-in ballots.
• That same year, Drazan sponsored a bill that would prohibit friends, roommates, or family members from dropping off a ballot on someone's behalf.
• Drazan also opposed a bill to make voter pamphlet materials available in other languages.
• Alarmingly, Drazan also voted against allowing mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day, but arrive after, to be counted, positioning herself as further to the right than Donald Trump's Supreme Court.

"Christine Drazan spent her legislative career working to undermine the integrity of Oregon's election system," said Democratic Party of Oregon Executive Director Candy Emmons. "Now that she's running for higher office, she seems to have no problem with unofficial ballot collection. It's hypocrisy, plain and simple. Christine Drazan has made it clear that there is no principle she will not abandon in exchange for votes."

Read more below:

Portland Mercury: Candidate For Oregon Governor Wanted Mail-In Voting Overturned. Now She's Using It to Boost Her Campaign.

By Courtney Vaughn

August 21, 2026

• Despite her previous efforts to nix Oregon's vote-by-mail system, Senator Drazan's gubernatorial campaign staffers say they intend to operate as an unofficial ballot drop site-a tactic sometimes referred to as "ballot harvesting," in an effort to help voters get their ballots dropped off in time for the November election.
• "We're gonna have couriers around the election time for the folks that are unable to drive or unable to get out," the campaign staffer explained. "I've got volunteers that are going out and picking up ballots and dropping off ballots."
• "I've never known hypocrisy to be a compelling argument to Republicans. They tend to say 'Do as I say, not as I do'," Weigler says, pointing to President Trump's recent efforts to quash mail-in voting in states like Oregon, under the guise of election tampering, even though the president votes by mail using an absentee ballot.
• "Across Oregon, the progressive machine has always been better at grassroots organizing," Tweed says. "They make up a huge part of the population."
• That likely explains Drazan's shift in campaign tactics this time around, and the embrace of volunteer ballot drop-offs on behalf of campaign supporters. Those who know they've got a loyal pocket of voters in a particular area-as Drazan's campaign has in Sandy-can ensure they pick up every vote possible by making sure every supporter's ballot makes it to an elections office on time.

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