LA GRANDE — Cameras will again be boosting election security in Union County during the upcoming Tuesday, May 16, election.

The reason is video cameras are continuing to have a prominent place in the Union County Clerk’s Office, just as they have for the past few years, according to County Clerk Lisa Feik.

At least 10 video cameras inside and outside the Union County Clerk’s Office monitor it around the clock to detect any election irregularities or fraud.

Sites where the cameras are located include the vote tabulating machine and the site where the county’s voter certification board meets.

The video cameras, purchased with state funding, have been phased in over the past three or four years.

The cameras can be used to catch people committing voter fraud or damaging equipment. No images from the cameras have had to be examined because no voter fraud or damage to equipment has been suspected in Union County since they were installed.

“The community is so wonderful. We don’t have to deal with problems other communities do,” Feik said.

Another plus on the voter security front, Feik said, is that no voting machines or election ballots in Union County and Oregon, overall, are hooked to the internet, meaning there is no danger of someone altering vote results by making a few keystrokes on a computer keyboard.

“We don’t have to worry about something like a cyberattack affecting an election,” Feik said.

The county clerk said another safeguard that boosts election security is that when ballots are evaluated to determine voter intent, multiple members of the voter certification board examine them before a decision is made. For example, sometimes a voter may change his or her mind when marking a ballot and erase one mark and add another for a different candidate, but doing so in a manner that makes the vote unclear. When the board decides on voter intent in such a case, multiple people are always involved in the decision.

Feik has worked in the Union County Clerk’s Office since 2007 and is in her fifth month as county clerk after being elected in November 2022. She feels good about the election safeguards in place in Union County and throughout Oregon.

“I am proud of what we do,” she said. “We take it seriously.”

Feik said that if anyone has concerns about voter security in the county, she invites them to come and see what is happening.

“We encourage everyone to come and watch the process and if they have any questions to call,” Feik said.

Ballots for the May 16 election were mailed out April 27. Ballots are due by 8 p.m. on Election Day when returned by hand or deposited in a drop box. Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked on or before May 16 in order to be counted.