Oregon’s former Elections Director, Steve Trout, warned officials about serious election technology vulnerabilities SIX YEARS AGO. Days later, he was out of a job. Now, just days before the November 3 election, those warnings deserve renewed attention.

Oregon’s former Elections Director, Steve Trout, warned officials about serious election technology vulnerabilities SIX YEARS AGO. Days later, he was out of a job.

Now, just days before the November 3 election, those warnings deserve renewed attention.

In November 2020, Oregon Elections Director Steve Trout issued a blistering memorandum identifying serious problems within the Secretary of State’s office.

Among his findings:

• 12 requested technology improvements had gone unfunded.

• Some election systems were running on Windows Server 2008, which Microsoft no longer supported.

• Public-facing election websites depended on a single power supply and internet connection, without adequate redundancy.

• Security upgrades and repairs to dozens of software bugs remained unfunded.

Trout warned that the agency’s aging technology and lack of support made it nearly impossible to succeed.

Days later, he was gone.

Trout said then-Secretary of State Bev Clarno fired him by TEXT MESSAGE.

Fast-forward six years.

On October 23, 2026, an internal Oregon Secretary of State election-testing website was discovered accessible to the public internet, displaying simulated election results.

According to the @Oregonian a system update allowed the staging website to become accessible outside its protective firewall. Of course, Oregon’s largest newspaper reported the breach as an innocent opsie.

Here’s the question: Did Oregon ever fix the election technology problems Steve Trout warned them about in 2020?

We don’t yet know whether Trout’s warnings have any direct connection to this latest security incident.

But Secretary of State Tobias Read should be able to tell Oregonians exactly which of Trout’s 12 requested improvements were completed, which remain outstanding, and whether any unresolved vulnerabilities contributed to this exposure. Hey, @ORSecretaryRead, can you provide Oregonians this information, or not?

Six years. Multiple secretaries of state. One whom probably should be in jail. And now, yet another reason to examine Oregon’s election infrastructure.

Oregonians deserve documented answers, not simply assurances that their elections are secure.

— PDX Real (@PDXReal1) October 27, 2026