“Nearly 200 Oregonians used the iPad to mark their ballots during the pilot,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown. “We can do better. I am proud to expand the availability of this technology statewide to serve all Oregonians who may have accessibility needs. My goal is to make the ballot more accessible to all eligible Oregonians.”

Using federal Help America Vote Act dollars, the Secretary of State’s Elections Division provided each of Oregon’s 36 counties with at least one iPad and printer for use in the May Primary. Oregon Elections continued its successful partnership with Everyone Counts, the developer of the software that drives the system. The iPads replace an old system that was expensive to maintain and difficult to use. Oregon Elections provided county staff with the training needed to assist voters.

On Friday, May 11, 2012 Oregon Elections and the Washington County Voter Assistance team will visit Avamere Rehabilitation, an assisted living facility in Beaverton. The team will have iPads available for voters with special needs to use and mark their ballots. In an effort to explore the newest technology available for those with special needs, Oregon Elections invited Dr. Juan Gilbert, a professor and chairman of the Human-Centered Computing Division in Clemson University’s School of Computing to attend. During his visit Dr. Gilbert will demonstrate new software he is developing to assist voters with disabilities. Dr. Gilbert and his team will be present, along with representatives from Portland State University, University of Washington and Intel.

For more information, please contact

Andrea Cantu-Schomus
Communications Director
Oregon Secretary of State
503-986-2368
503-507-0082

Press Release
May 8, 2012

SALEM – In an effort to increase awareness and help the Secretary of State’s office promote Oregon’s Blue Book, students with Willamette University’s Atkinson School of Management created a marketing plan using Quick Response (QR) codes at Oregon State Parks. The codes created by the students contain interesting information, factoids, trivia and links to the Blue Book. People with smart phones and a free app can snap a photo of the code and be taken to the right web page automatically.

“This is a really cool project,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown. “We have always struggled to raise the public’s awareness of the Blue Book and all the great information it contains. I encourage Oregonians to take out their smart phone when visiting these parks and give these QR codes a try. They really are a lot of fun.”

The QR codes are placed at several of Oregon’s State Parks. Locations with a high number of visitors and good cellular coverage were selected. Oregon State Archives will host and maintain the website behind the QR codes. Oregon State Parks will place and maintain these QR Codes in the various locations and will collect website traffic statistics. This joint venture cost nothing to implement. State Parks and the State Archives will maintain and sustain the project without incurring any costs.

“We look forward to seeing how well these QR codes are received,” said Archives Director Mary Beth Herkert. “This is a new venture for us and we enjoyed working with the students and learning about this relatively new tool in marketing and public outreach.”

You can find the QR codes at the following state parks:
Fort Stevens State Park, Tryon Creek Park, Beverly Beach, Shore Acres, Valley of the Rogue State Park, Deschutes River State Recreation Area, Maples Valley Rest Area, Smith Rock State Park, Tumalo State Park, Yaquina Bay, D River, Crown Point Scenic Corridor, Wallowa Lake, Rooster Rock, Historic Columbia River, Champoeg and Silver Falls State Park.

For more information, please contact

Andrea Cantu-Schomus
Communications Director
Oregon Secretary of State
503-986-2368
503-507-0082

SALEM – Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown will celebrate the public-private partnership with Chaves Consulting, Inc. at a ribbon cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. on May 4, 2012 in Baker City, Oregon. This unique partnership allows the Secretary of State’s office to implement the first statewide electronic records management solution, the first of its kind in the country. Oregon’s Records Management Solution (ORMS) is estimated to create more than 25 jobs in eastern Oregon.

“In rural eastern Oregon 25 jobs is significant; it is equivalent to 2,500 jobs in the Portland metro area,” said Secretary Brown. “I am so proud of this partnership. The work allows us to create jobs, preserve Oregon’s history and provide better services to Oregonians at a lower cost.”

ORMS allows for the simplification of records management across the entire state and local government using Hewlett Packard’s software called TRIM. Additionally, this single records management system will enable Oregon to gain economies of scale, cost savings, as well as greater efficiencies due to the consolidation of workloads and reduction of duplicative storage. The system copies, stores, archives and retrieves records creating less work for staff. It also reduces the chances of losing records and is sustainable, decreasing the need for paper and storage.

Cities such as Beaverton, West Linn and Milwaukie; state agencies – Public Utilities Commission and pilot field offices from the Department of Human Services Children, Adults and Families Division; Tillamook County and Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District have all joined as pilot agencies. Additional state and local government agencies are expected to join this year.

The ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at the Synergy Data Center in Baker City. This state of the art facility houses stores the data for ORMS and other clients such as the Wyoming and Missouri Secretaries of State.

For more information, please contact

Andrea Cantu-Schomus
Communications Director
Oregon Secretary of State
503-986-2368
503-507-0082

Secretary Brown urges the public to call hotline if they suspect fraud and abuse of state funds

SALEM – The Secretary of State’s Audits Division released a new report today that showed the hotline received 149 reports during 2011. The resulting investigations and audits identified over $7 million of misdirected funds, errors in federal awards, and questioned costs.

“The hotline is a critical part in how we find waste in government and evaluate government spending,” Brown said. “The eyes and ears of the public play a huge role in alerting us to anything that may be suspicious. Oregonians must be proactive in helping us make sure their tax money is spent wisely and efficiently.”

The nature of the 2011 calls ranged from requests for information to tips that led to investigations. Nine such queries remain open. The report is issued annually.
Since the inception of the hotline in 1995, callers have helped identify more than $16 million in questionable expenditures. That includes misappropriated public and private funds, money not spent in accordance with the laws, errors in federal awards, and potential savings from improved efficiencies and the elimination of waste and abuse.

Public access to the hotline will play a critical role in monitoring how the state spends state money, said Gary Blackmer, director of the Oregon Audits Division.

“Taxpayers benefit from the vigilance of the public,” Blackmer said. “The caller’s identity is kept confidential to offer a safe place to report wrong-doing.”
The toll-free Government Waste Hotline is (800) 336-8218. The public can also report suspicions to online at fraud.oregon.gov.

The audit can be found at www.sos.state.or.us/audits.

High Workloads and Limited Resources May Prevent Children in Foster Care from Returning Home

Salem – A state audit released today found that while the Department of Human Services’ Child Welfare Program returned children home at a higher rate than the national average, high caseloads and limited services to parents may prevent children in foster care from returning home. Auditors suggested the agency consider some strategies to help case workers with the challenges they face.

“In this resource limited environment, frontline workers are expected to do more with less,” Secretary of State Kate Brown said. “We found a few things that might help a little in coping with their large workloads.”

The Child Welfare Program is responsible for removing children from their homes when their safety is threatened. The Department also tries to return these children to their homes or primary caregivers whenever possible. According to federal data, about 29% of about 13,000 children in foster care in Oregon went home, compared to 22% nationally. However, they found this success is threatened by high caseworker workloads and tight program funding.

Certain caseworker tasks deemed critical for safely returning children home were not occurring at adequate levels and, in some cases, were not occurring at all. Most noteworthy were inadequate parent-child visits, decreased efforts to engage parents, and limited resources to address parents’ mental health, substance abuse, and housing issues.

State auditors observed several district practices that, if explored further, could increase return rates. For example, the Department’s Klamath County Office has a visitation center located away from the child welfare office, which can provide a less stressful environment for parent-child visits.

Auditors recommended central management consider assigning a central office program manager dedicated to returning children home who could help set priorities and provide better direction and caseworker support. Auditors also recommended consideration of assigning some administrative tasks caseworkers now perform to support staff.

“We conducted on-site work in five of Oregon’s 16 districts and saw their challenges and some strategies that could help. We believe these strategies could help caseworkers a bit, and perhaps return more children to their families,” said Audits Director Gary Blackmer.

The audit report, including the agency response, can be found at www.sos.state.or.us/audits.

For more information, contact

Andrea Cantu-Schomus
503-986-2368

SALEM – An investigation by the Secretary of State’s Election Division found Robert Wolfe, chief petitioner for Initiative Petition 24, violated Oregon’s constitution. Wolfe paid employees based on the number of signatures gathered rather than an hourly wage as Oregon law requires. Two circulators who have submitted signed statements that they were unlawfully paid by the signature gathered twenty-six petition sheets. A penalty of $2,500 per sheet was issued.

“I want to thank our investigators and the Department of Justice for quick work in this case,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown. “I remain committed to cracking down on fraud and abuse in the initiative process. I sincerely hope this case sends a message to all chief petitioners and signature gatherers that, we treat these cases very seriously.”

This is the largest penalty ever issued in Oregon for a violation of the pay per signature ban. Several circulators participated in the investigation and stated they were paid by signature. We continue to investigate claims. The circulators have been referred to the Bureau of Labor and Industries to file wage claims if they were not paid for the hours they worked.

By law, the 26 signature sheets that were obtained by the circulators who were paid per signature will still be processed in order to determine if the measure qualifies for the November ballot. All signatures must be submitted by 5 p.m. on July 6, 2012 in order to be considered for the general election this fall.

Initiative Petition 24 is the constitutional amendment decriminalizing the possession of marijuana.

For more information, please contact

Andrea Cantu-Schomus

503-986-2368

Here are four things you need to know:

• Oregon’s primary election will take place on May 15, 2012
• The deadline to register or change political party online at www.oregonvotes.org is 11:59 p.m. April 24
• If you choose to register or change political party using a voter registration card, it must be postmarked by April 24
• Ballots will be mailed April 27

For more information, please go online to www.oregonvotes.org or contact your county elections office. To find contact information for your county clerks, visit Voter Resources on the Secretary of State website.

Level of Effort requirements impact the state’s General Fund because the state often spends these funds to meet the commitments. The Oregon Legislative Assembly needed to add $62.5 million of General Fund dollars in 2011 to four programs so that they could remain compliant with their Level of Effort requirements. In some cases, federal rules allow the state to get credit for spending by other programs or state agencies.

While auditors found Oregon agencies have generally complied with Level of Effort requirements, some agency staff expressed concern that state commitment levels could be difficult to sustain in the future.  Auditors found state agencies could better coordinate and combine their program efforts to meet these Federal requirements, which could save General Funds.

“During challenging economic times it is more important than ever to leverage limited General Fund dollars in order to preserve federal funding for important programs,” said Secretary of State Kate Brown.

The audit found general agreement among state staff that Level of Effort requirements helped secure continued funding for particular programs.  However, agency staff also expressed concern that unclear federal requirements and inadequate federal guidance made administration of Level of Effort programs complicated and discouraged innovation and efficiencies for some programs.  Level of Effort can also be insensitive to changes in service populations or short-term economic downturns that leave critical non-Level of Effort programs subject to greater reductions.

“Federal agencies need to reevaluate their Level of Effort requirements and guidance to reduce red tape and help ensure state and federal funds are getting the greatest value possible”, said Audits Division Director Gary Blackmer “We will be seeking Federal consideration of the issues we identified.”

The audit report, including the agency response, can be found at www.sos.state.or.us/audits

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Andrea Cantu-Schomus
Communications Director
Oregon Secretary of State
503-986-2368
503-507-0082

SALEM –Secretary of State Kate Brown issued a detailed audit on Oregon’s financial report and its spending of $11.4 billion federal funds. The audit checked the state’s financial statement for the year ending June 30, 2011, and concluded that it was okay. Their examination also concluded that Oregon generally spent its $11.4 billion federal funds in accordance with federal and state rules.

“This audit gives Oregonians general confidence that state agencies are reporting their finances correctly, and that they are following the laws and rules on how the Federal money is spent,” said Brown. “We conduct this audit every year to ensure that good practices are being sustained, and any problems are identified quickly.”

The work was conducted by 30 professional staff members in the Audits Division who spend 9 months in the field interviewing agency personnel, analyzing accounting control structures, examining transactions, and applying national and federal standards to ensure everything is reported in the appropriate places and for the correct amounts.  Audits Division staff hold CPA and other certifications and are trained in auditing, accounting, fraud examination and related fields.

“This audit comprises the single largest and most important effort on our part,” said Gary Blackmer, director of the Audits Division. “Sound financial practices are the foundation of public accountability.”

The report contains 14 audit findings related to financial reporting and 11 audit findings about compliance and internal control involving ongoing federal programs. While these findings recommend that managers take corrective actions, they were not serious enough to affect the state’s final financial statements.

The audit will be available to the public on Monday, April 9th, and can be found at www.sos.state.or.us/audits

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Andrea Cantu-Schomus
Communications Director
Oregon Secretary of State
503-986-2368
503-507-0082