Gubernatorial candidate wants to end vote by mail
Mar. 29—LA GRANDE — Oregon gubernatorial candidate Reed Christensen wants Oregon's vote-by-mail system to be stamped out.
During a campaign talk at the Union County Fairgrounds on Monday, March 28, the Republican from Hillsboro said he believes Oregon must end vote by mail and return to the traditional in-person voting system it had prior to 1997. Christensen said the 2020 presidential election, much of which was conducted via vote by mail across the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic, revealed this form of voting is at risk of becoming corrupt.
Analysis by a host of media outlets and government agencies, including former President Donald Trump's attorney general, however, have debunked the baseless claims of political corruption, machine tampering and mysterious votes appearing out of nowhere that allowed Joe Biden to steal the election.
Christensen, who worked for 30 years as a process engineer at Intel, a semi-conductor company, before retiring, also said he would like to see all federal lands in Oregon turned over to the state. He said this is a fairness issue. The candidate explained that early in United States history, the federal government owned all land in territories before statehood was granted, after which states gained control of it. He said this is why most states east of the Mississippi River have little federal land.
Christensen said when territories were granted statehood later, the federal government asked that it retain control of significant portions of their land. He said this is not fair to states such as Oregon, which cannot generate revenue from land owned by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management or control how it is managed.
He said he would ultimately like to see all federal land returned not only to states but to their counties. He said he believes this would result in land being managed better locally. He explained that people have a vested interest in properly managing the land they are surrounded by.
Christensen is one of 19 Republican gubernatorial candidates entered in the Tuesday, May 17, Oregon primary. The candidates are seeking to succeed Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, who has served as governor since 2015 and cannot run for reelection because of term limits.
Christensen is under federal indictment for allegedly assaulting a police officer while storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The Oregonian reported that an FBI video on the U.S. Department of Justice website shows Christensen pushing past a barrier in front of the Capitol and grappling with several officers.
Christensen also is accused of engaging in an act of physical violence in a Capitol building and entering or remaining on restricted grounds without lawful authority, among other charges, according to a federal complaint.
The gubernatorial candidate believes that he was simply taking part in a historic event.
"I believe I was participating in the Boston Tea Party 2.0," Christensen said.
He said that he believes that Americans were upset about what they believe was a corrupt election and were expressing their feelings.
"It was entirely appropriate," Christensen said.
