We Do Not Want Steve Dennison to Continue as Deschutes County Clerk
The Issue
We, voters of Deschutes County, Oregon, do not want Steve Dennison to continue as our County Clerk.
The audit facts below come from Deschutes County's own published audit reports, which include the Clerk's written responses. The other sources (county code, state law, committee minutes, the county's drop-box map and federal accessibility standards) are linked at the bottom so you can check them yourself.
• Election security information. In a 2025 election audit, the county's internal auditor reported that Clerk Steve Dennison refused to discuss or provide information about security for the county's ballot-counting software, including the election security plan required by state law, so the auditor could not give assurance that the system is secure. County code says all county officers and employees must give the auditor unrestricted access to information and records needed for an audit, and that access restricted by law should be discussed with County Counsel. The Clerk's response: state law and a Secretary of State directive required him to keep the plan confidential, and he made that decision after consulting the Secretary of State's Elections Division, county legal staff and other county clerks. Audit Committee minutes from June 13, 2025 say County Counsel disagreed with the auditor's interpretation and believed it was appropriate for the Clerk's Office not to share the information. The auditor disagreed with the Clerk and stood by the audit's conclusions.
• Ballot drop boxes. The same 2025 audit measured 7 of the 11 ballot drop boxes it checked with openings higher than the 48-inch maximum in a U.S. Justice Department accessibility checklist, found pavement gaps wider than half an inch at 4 sites, and reported that the Clerk's Office had no plan at the time to address them. The Clerk's response: those are drive-through boxes, and federal accessibility standards exempt drive-up only boxes from that height rule. To be fair, the county's current drop-box map labels all seven of those sites drive-through, and every box the audit lists at a walk-up site measured 43 inches, within the limit. The auditor stood by the finding and questioned how drive-up sites were identified. The county's December 2025 follow-up report and its audit web page (checked October 2026) both list the two recommendations as "in process"; the county's first follow-up on this audit is scheduled for 2026.
• Office controls and purchasing. A June 2024 county audit of the Clerk's office found that recording staff (not elections staff) shared one login and password in the office's property-recording software, and that software settings requiring a second staffer to check recorded documents and a supervisor to approve voided receipts had been turned off. The office said it fixed these during the audit, and a follow-up nine months later reported those controls were in place. At that follow-up, 4 of the audit's 13 recommendations, about a fraud risk assessment, cash-handling procedures and following county purchasing rules, were still in process.
To be fair and clear: neither audit found fraud, and we do not claim any. The 2025 audit found that, overall, election controls were working as intended: voter rolls were maintained, signatures were verified and staff properly interpreted voter intent. The Clerk told the Audit Committee that his office initiated that audit. We know of no court or enforcement agency that has found the Clerk broke the law. Our concern is about oversight and follow-through, as described in the county's own reports.
Voters deserve a County Clerk who welcomes oversight, answers questions, and follows through on audit recommendations.
We'll make our voices heard on November 3, 2026. If he is re-elected, we will support an official recall petition as soon as Oregon law allows.
This petition shows public support. It is not an official recall petition. Oregon only counts recall signatures on approved, hand-signed sheets.
Started by Jonathan Curtis, candidate for Deschutes County Clerk and a third-generation Bend local, born and raised here. https://votejonathancurtis.com
PROOF: the source for every fact above
2025 election audit, Deschutes County report A0129, including the Clerk's written response (printed page numbers: security information, pages 7 to 9; drop boxes, pages 10 to 14; the auditor's comments, pages 22 to 23; the Clerk's response, pages 24 to 37): https://www.deschutescounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2209/A0129-Election-Report-UPDATED-W-RESP-11-3-25
County status page for the 2025 election audit: https://www.deschutescounty.gov/355
December 2025 county follow-up report, which lists recommendations "in process": https://www.deschutescounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2486/Link-to-Full-2025-Global-Follow-Up-and-Annual-Report
2024 audit of the Clerk's Office and its March 2025 follow-up: https://www.deschutescounty.gov/361/Clerks-Office-Integrated-Audit-2024
County rule on the auditor's access to records, Deschutes County Code section 2.14.060: https://deschutescounty.municipalcodeonline.com/book/print?type=ordinances&name=2.14.060_Access_To_Employees,_Records_And_Property
Audit Committee minutes, June 13, 2025 (County Counsel's view): https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/deschutes-pubu/MEET-Minutes-b9c2fccdd10440849172858677e48b78.pdf
Audit Committee minutes, October 10, 2025 (the Clerk's statements about the audit): https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/deschutes-pubu/MEET-Minutes-c39145752ef54b208b66f097191e2adf.pdf
State law on election security plans, ORS 254.074: https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_254.074
The county's current drop-box map (click a pin to see whether a box is drive-through or walk-up): https://www.deschutescounty.gov/1291
Federal accessibility standards on reach height and the drive-up exception (2010 ADA Standards, sections 228.1, 308 and 309): https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/design-standards/2010-stds/
U.S. Justice Department guidance on ballot drop box accessibility: https://www.ada.gov/resources/ballot-box-accessibility/
Every finding in one place, with page numbers: https://votejonathancurtis.com/audits
More about me and my campaign: https://votejonathancurtis.com
9
The Issue
We, voters of Deschutes County, Oregon, do not want Steve Dennison to continue as our County Clerk.
The audit facts below come from Deschutes County's own published audit reports, which include the Clerk's written responses. The other sources (county code, state law, committee minutes, the county's drop-box map and federal accessibility standards) are linked at the bottom so you can check them yourself.
• Election security information. In a 2025 election audit, the county's internal auditor reported that Clerk Steve Dennison refused to discuss or provide information about security for the county's ballot-counting software, including the election security plan required by state law, so the auditor could not give assurance that the system is secure. County code says all county officers and employees must give the auditor unrestricted access to information and records needed for an audit, and that access restricted by law should be discussed with County Counsel. The Clerk's response: state law and a Secretary of State directive required him to keep the plan confidential, and he made that decision after consulting the Secretary of State's Elections Division, county legal staff and other county clerks. Audit Committee minutes from June 13, 2025 say County Counsel disagreed with the auditor's interpretation and believed it was appropriate for the Clerk's Office not to share the information. The auditor disagreed with the Clerk and stood by the audit's conclusions.
• Ballot drop boxes. The same 2025 audit measured 7 of the 11 ballot drop boxes it checked with openings higher than the 48-inch maximum in a U.S. Justice Department accessibility checklist, found pavement gaps wider than half an inch at 4 sites, and reported that the Clerk's Office had no plan at the time to address them. The Clerk's response: those are drive-through boxes, and federal accessibility standards exempt drive-up only boxes from that height rule. To be fair, the county's current drop-box map labels all seven of those sites drive-through, and every box the audit lists at a walk-up site measured 43 inches, within the limit. The auditor stood by the finding and questioned how drive-up sites were identified. The county's December 2025 follow-up report and its audit web page (checked October 2026) both list the two recommendations as "in process"; the county's first follow-up on this audit is scheduled for 2026.
• Office controls and purchasing. A June 2024 county audit of the Clerk's office found that recording staff (not elections staff) shared one login and password in the office's property-recording software, and that software settings requiring a second staffer to check recorded documents and a supervisor to approve voided receipts had been turned off. The office said it fixed these during the audit, and a follow-up nine months later reported those controls were in place. At that follow-up, 4 of the audit's 13 recommendations, about a fraud risk assessment, cash-handling procedures and following county purchasing rules, were still in process.
To be fair and clear: neither audit found fraud, and we do not claim any. The 2025 audit found that, overall, election controls were working as intended: voter rolls were maintained, signatures were verified and staff properly interpreted voter intent. The Clerk told the Audit Committee that his office initiated that audit. We know of no court or enforcement agency that has found the Clerk broke the law. Our concern is about oversight and follow-through, as described in the county's own reports.
Voters deserve a County Clerk who welcomes oversight, answers questions, and follows through on audit recommendations.
We'll make our voices heard on November 3, 2026. If he is re-elected, we will support an official recall petition as soon as Oregon law allows.
This petition shows public support. It is not an official recall petition. Oregon only counts recall signatures on approved, hand-signed sheets.
Started by Jonathan Curtis, candidate for Deschutes County Clerk and a third-generation Bend local, born and raised here. https://votejonathancurtis.com
PROOF: the source for every fact above
2025 election audit, Deschutes County report A0129, including the Clerk's written response (printed page numbers: security information, pages 7 to 9; drop boxes, pages 10 to 14; the auditor's comments, pages 22 to 23; the Clerk's response, pages 24 to 37): https://www.deschutescounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2209/A0129-Election-Report-UPDATED-W-RESP-11-3-25
County status page for the 2025 election audit: https://www.deschutescounty.gov/355
December 2025 county follow-up report, which lists recommendations "in process": https://www.deschutescounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2486/Link-to-Full-2025-Global-Follow-Up-and-Annual-Report
2024 audit of the Clerk's Office and its March 2025 follow-up: https://www.deschutescounty.gov/361/Clerks-Office-Integrated-Audit-2024
County rule on the auditor's access to records, Deschutes County Code section 2.14.060: https://deschutescounty.municipalcodeonline.com/book/print?type=ordinances&name=2.14.060_Access_To_Employees,_Records_And_Property
Audit Committee minutes, June 13, 2025 (County Counsel's view): https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/deschutes-pubu/MEET-Minutes-b9c2fccdd10440849172858677e48b78.pdf
Audit Committee minutes, October 10, 2025 (the Clerk's statements about the audit): https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/deschutes-pubu/MEET-Minutes-c39145752ef54b208b66f097191e2adf.pdf
State law on election security plans, ORS 254.074: https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_254.074
The county's current drop-box map (click a pin to see whether a box is drive-through or walk-up): https://www.deschutescounty.gov/1291
Federal accessibility standards on reach height and the drive-up exception (2010 ADA Standards, sections 228.1, 308 and 309): https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/design-standards/2010-stds/
U.S. Justice Department guidance on ballot drop box accessibility: https://www.ada.gov/resources/ballot-box-accessibility/
Every finding in one place, with page numbers: https://votejonathancurtis.com/audits
More about me and my campaign: https://votejonathancurtis.com
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Petition created on October 3, 2026