Archive for the 'Ballot Initiatives' Category

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Referenda Roundup

Published on September 24, 2009 in Ballot Initiatives and Elections. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/atlas/Images/Glossary/Referendum.jpgIn most years, the humble referendum pales in popularity to its gregarious cousin the citizen initiative.

Since 1902, the citizen initiative has given birth to all kinds of changes to our social and political structure, including the vote for women, mandated seat belt use and reworking of our tax structure. There have been 348 initiatives on Oregon ballots and we’ve passed 118 of them.

The referendum doesn’t always have the same dramatic flare or occasional high profile.  But it allows citizens to repeal an action by the Legislature, a vital check on our State government. In the last century, we have voted on 62 referenda, the most recent referendum in 2004 when voters rejected a temporary tax increase.

This year, however, petitioners are circulating petitions that could place four different referenda before voters next year. Referenda being circulated would refer HB 2649 (personal income tax) and HB 3405 (corporate income tax) to a special election held on January 26, 2010.  Two other referenda would refer to voters HB 2001 (transportation funding and gas tax) and HB 2010 (health care provider tax) to the May 2010 primary ballot.

To qualify for the ballot, a referendum needs the signatures of 4 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots in the most recent gubernatorial election. That translates to signatures from 55,179 registered Oregon voters.

The deadline for all four of the petition drives is 5 p.m. on Sept. 26.

Unveiling Our Signature Verification Room

Published on September 21, 2009 in Ballot Initiatives and Elections. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

These are pictures of Oregon’s Signature Verification Room. It is empty now with the exception of a few computers, some desks, and the flickering lights coming from a couple of Ethernet routers, but that doesn’t figure to be the case for much longer. With signature sheets for ballot initiatives due on September 25th and a constitutionally mandated 30 days1 for our elections staff to verify those signatures, the serene scene you see above will be a rare occurrence.

During this month, 5-6 elections officers at a time will work in shifts to get through more than 200,000 signatures expected to be submitted later this week, which have been gathered to refer to voters up to four bills passed by the legislature. Each staff person receives training from a forensic document examination consultant.

This will be the first time that the Secretary of State’s office will be conducting the full signature verification operations for initiatives and referenda; previously, each county was responsible for the operation. That changed in response to an issue raised by US District Court Judge Michael Mosman in his opinion on a 2008 challenge to the signature verification process.  Judge Mosman upheld the underlying process as valid, but raised concerns that verification standards could change from one county to another.

In order to insure a uniform standard, the Secretary of State has brought the entire verification process under the auspice of the Elections Division, relieving our county partners of a large amount of work and guaranteeing the signatures be evaluated uniformly.

As you can see from the first picture above, we’re taking security on this operation very seriously. Only Secretary of State staff will be able to access an outer door, which then leads to the locked cage you see above. Observers from proponents and opponents of the referenda will be allowed in the room under supervision.  As this process gets under way, we will be providing you with a behind the scenes look at the verification process as it is taking place.

[1] Oregon Constitution Article IV, Section 1, Subsection 4a