Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read (above) said a pre-2026 election call between his office and agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security was heavy on “bluster” and light on facts, as reported by Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Officials discussed using the SAVE database to check voter rolls, a move Oregon opposes over accuracy concerns (such as mislabeling some U.S. citizens as potential non-citizens). A judge recently blocked the Trump administration from accessing Oregon’s voter records.
Calls between state officials and federal agencies about upcoming elections are common, Read’s office says, but this one was concerning for its unusual participants. These included a self-described “FBI election executive” and an election conspiracy theorist, Heather Honey, who is now an appointed “deputy assistant secretary for election integrity.”
After right-wing firebrand Steve Bannon pushed for ICE agents to surround the polls this November, and after White House press secretary Karoline Levitt hinted that it was possible, during the call Honey denied that they would do this. It is a federal crime for them to do so (for what that’s worth to this administration).
The above summarizes “Oregon Secretary of State Read ‘deeply concerned’ about election conspiracies after FBI call” by Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle, Feb. 26, 2026.
Photo of Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read by Laura Tesler, Oregon Capital Chronicle.