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Trout closed the memo on a dour note:
“I don’t want you to be surprised if you hear I am interviewing for new jobs,” he wrote. “It is not because I don’t want to work for either of you, but rather because I cannot succeed with the current state of technology and lack of support in the agency. I don’t believe anyone will be able to succeed.”
Trout did not make clear in the memo that his departure was imminent, however. Rather, he urged Fagan and Thatcher to take his concerns seriously, saying: “I would be willing to discuss staying on as a part of your administration. There are so many opportunities for improving elections right now throughout the country that I want to use my talents and abilities to effectuate the most good. As things currently stand, I cannot do that in Oregon, but with your leadership anything is possible.”
Clarno’s office said Monday that she was aware of the memo, but had not seen it. Trout’s departure was first reported by Willamette Week.
The negative portrayal of Oregon’s elections system runs counter to the reputation Oregon has enjoyed this year. As a leader in universal vote by mail, the state — and Trout specifically — have been a model for many other states who rushed to get their own systems online in the pandemic.
Last week’s events mark the second time Trout has been let go as the state’s election director. He was first pushed out in 2013 by then-Secretary of State Kate Brown, after roughly four years on the job. Trout began working for Clear Ballot, a company that supplies ballot creation and tallying equipment to many counties in Oregon and beyond. But he re-emerged in 2016, when newly elected Secretary of State Dennis Richardson added Trout to his transition team, and subsequently hired him as elections director.
Trout is not the only high-ranking member of Clarno’s staff to depart last week. Her chief of staff, Cameron Smith, also left the office, having accepted a job with the Northwest Credit Union Association. Smith’s plans to leave the office were announced in late September.