Trump’s omission from Oregon voter pamphlet misconstrued online

Images showing an official Oregon voter information pamphlet for the 2024 presidential election that omits former President Donald Trump’s name are genuine, but viral social media posts inaccurately suggest they provide evidence of election tampering. The reality is the Trump campaign chose not to participate in the guide, and state officials had nothing to do with the decision. Let’s look at the facts.

Quick Look

Yes
The Oregon Voters’ Guide for the 2024 election does not feature former President Donald Trump.
No
The decision to leave Trump off was not made by state officials.
Yes
It was the Trump campaign’s choice not to participate in the pamphlet.
Yes
Trump will appear on Oregon’s ballot.

The Takeaway

Presenting seemingly suspicious content with a leading question that suggests something is amiss is a common disinformation tactic. While posts like this typically contain some accurate information, they are frequently shared in a misleading or incomplete context. In this case, the images from Oregon’s voter pamphlet are real, but it was the Trump campaign’s decision to opt out of it and not a deliberate omission by state officials.

These misleading claims can be difficult to spot, so here are three steps to practice during the 2024 election.

1. Refrain from immediately believing or sharing a post to allow time to find more information.

2. Consider a question about the viral post, such as, “Why was Trump left off of this guide?”

3. Search for sources with credible information on the question, including Oregon’s Republican Party, Oregon’s Secretary of State or standards-based news outlets.

The 5 Factors

We’ve determined that this viral rumor is misleading or false based on its failure to pass the following credibility factors. Please note that these factors do not represent degrees of falsehood. A post that fails a single factor is generally just as false as a post that fails all five.

Snapshot

Source
Evidence
Context
Authenticity
Reasoning

Source

Has it been posted or confirmed by a credible source?

No.

These claims were spread by partisan sources.

Evidence

Is there evidence that proves the claim?

No.

The evidence shows former President Donald Trump was omitted from Oregon’s voter guide because of a decision made by his campaign, not state officials.

Context

Is the context accurate?

No.

These images were presented as if they were evidence of some nefarious activity from state officials, but they actually show a standard voter guide featuring all the candidates who chose to participate.

Authenticity