Murdock praises election staff and volunteers

By on Friday, October 14th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

UMATILLA COUNTY – Ballots for the 2023 General Election start being put in the mail in Oregon next week. Meanwhile, people nationally are still raising questions about election integrity. Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock said that integrity is number one in this county.

“They check so many things,” he said. “They check the address. They check the signatures. They have so many different steps and people involved to protect the integrity.”

Some who question election integrity point to counting machines as a possible weakness. Murdock said in Umatilla County that’s impossible.

“The counting machines aren’t even hooked up to anything,” he said. “They’re a stand-alone operation. You couldn’t hack in.”

When Murdock is campaigning for office, he isn’t allowed to set foot in the elections division. Now that he’s retiring, he had thought he could volunteer to help out there. They told him to think again. “I’ve tried to help them from time to time, but I was told by the people that I was too slow,” he said with a smile.