Secretary of State Kate Brown Hires New Elections Director

Secretary of State Kate Brown

Secretary of State Kate Brown, who oversees Oregon elections, will be busy next year with U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races, along with what promises to be a large slate of ballot measures.

Brown's elections director, Steve Trout, resigned earlier this year, as did her chief of staff, Brian Shipley. 

Over the weekend, The Norman Daily Transcript, a daily newspaper in Cleveland County, Okla, reported that Cleveland County Election Board Secretary Jim Williams will become Oregon's new elections director next month.

Williams has worked in elections in New Mexico, Colorado and Oklahoma for more than 20 years, according to Oklahoma media reports.

Brown, a Democrat with gubernatorial aspirations, is reaching out to an interesting spot to replace Trout—Cleveland County, with a population 265,638, is only the third largest county in Oklahoma and is smaller than five Oregon counties. Williams will now be responsible for overseeing the voting of a population of 3.8 million.

Brown's spokesman, Tony Green, confirmed the hire.

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