Oregon Student Association Registration Tours

Published on January 6, 2010 in Elections, Road Trips and Secretary Brown. 0 Comments

This is a guest entry from Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown

Today I was lucky enough to be invited by the Oregon Student Association to their press conference in which they announced that they had registered a whopping 14,272 students to vote in just 3 months!

With this incredible accomplishment in mind, I want to share a little bit of what I experience on Monday and Tuesday during this tour of seven of Oregon’s university campuses: PCC Sylvania, PCC Casdcade, Mt. Hood Community College, Portland State University, University of Oregon, Oregon State  and Lane Community College.

The first thing I learned is that the students in this state are not sitting idly by while decisions are made in Salem. These students are showing us what civic engagement is all about.

And you should have seen them! Despite the cold and rainy weather, students were out on the streets of Eugene, Corvallis and Portland, fearlessly engaging their peers. Sometimes even after they had said no, or had walked right past without saying a thing.

They understand that sometimes voter registration comes one person at a time, but that each person they register could be the deciding vote. As someone who won her first race by 7 votes, I let them know just how important each and every voter they registered is, and I have to admit, I got caught up in their enthusiasm.

I was originally asked by the Student Association to talk about the role of students in the voting process during a set of ‘class raps’. We had so much fun with our scheduled raps, which sometimes had as many as 500 students in attendance, that we started up a series of ‘Guerilla Raps’, which were class raps in classrooms where we weren’t scheduled to speak. OSA approached professors and asked for permission and we launched right in. It was a great way to reach out to even more students before the registration deadline.

I also got an opportunity to help the students by hitting the streets and registering voters. We came across all kinds of students from all kinds of backgrounds including a couple of 17 year-olds taking advantage of a recent development in Oregon’s voting law, which allows 17 year-old Oregonians to register to vote in the election following their 18th birthday.

I walked away from the two day tour with a tremendous respect for the students in our great state. I saw an amazing level of dedication from those who took their time out of their busy schedules to volunteer. These volunteers are a credit to our state and will insure that the health of our democracy remains strong for another generation. I also came away with a sense that young people are paying attention to the world around them and that sometimes all it takes is their peers giving them information and they will respond.

I want to thank the Oregon Student Association for this opportunity and congratulate them on a tremendous job well done!

Kate Brown is the Oregon Secretary of State

Questions Arise About Voter’s Pamphlet Arguments

Published on January 5, 2010 in Ballot Initiatives and Elections. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Our Elections Division has received a number of complaints about some of the arguments that made their way into the Voter’s Pamphlet for the upcoming Special Election.

The Albany Democrat Herald explains the stir-up:

The state last week mailed Voters’ Pamphlets to 1.7 million addresses. Backers and opponents paid $500 per statement to the state to have their arguments for and against the measures included.

Kevin Looper of “Our Oregon,” a Portland-based nonprofit, managed to get his arguments supporting the measures — labeled as opposition — placed last in the lineup of arguments against them. He also managed to be first in the opposition column.

This has raised the eyebrows and the ire of a number of Oregon voters, so we wanted to clear any confusion surrounding the process for filing an argument to be placed in the Voter’s Pamphlet and the role of the Secretary of State’s office in that process.

Any individual who files an argument to be printed in the voters’ pamphlet indicates on the filing form whether the argument submitted is in support or opposition to the measure. All arguments are printed in the voters’ pamphlet in the order they are received by our office. Our office then reviews each argument and if it appears that the information regarding a measure number or the designation of whether the argument supports or opposes the measure is incorrect, we contact the author to inquire if they made an error. If the author advises us that it is not an error, we are required to place the argument in the voters’ pamphlet as they have indicated, and in the order received in our office. This process is outlined and dictated by state law in ORS 251.260.

The Secretary of State’s Office does not have the legal authority to verify a given statement’s accuracy nor to edit it for content.

A recent article from the Oregonian provides a little historical background on the topic:

Here’s something to keep in mind: The secretary of state has compiled Voters’ Pamphlets since 1903. It’s a long tradition meant to help the public make important decisions. But, by law, the secretary of state cannot verify the truth and accuracy of statements in the pamphlet.

“We have a pretty strong constitutional protection of free speech in this state,” Secretary of State Kate Brown said Saturday.

Instead of state-issued statements, Brown said the Voters’ Pamphlet provides Oregonians “with a full range of arguments.”

Don’t be surprised if you detect some sarcasm and satire among those statements. The lead-off “argument” in opposition to Measure 66 was submitted by Kevin Looper, who is helping to coordinate the “pro” campaign.

In one of the most outrageous examples, in 2004, the phony “Defense of Heterosexual Breeding Coalition” put a statement in the pamphlet in support of Measure 36, a constitutional amendment recognizing that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

We hope that this clears up any misconceptions that may be out there about this process. If you have any further questions, go ahead and leave us a comment below.

The Cost of Voter Registration

Published on January 5, 2010 in Elections and HAVA. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

This month, the Pew Center on the States in Cooperation with the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, released an Oregon Case study on the The Real Cost of Voter Registration. The study looks at the costs incurred at the State, county, city, and township levels of government in Oregon during the 2008 election. The study found that Oregon spent $9.7 million dollars in state, local and federal dollars on voter registration during that election year.

Here are some highlights of where that money was spent:

  • The single biggest expense was $1 million to operate and maintain OCVR, the Oregon Central Voter Registration database, required by federal law and paid for in part with federal money.
  • The state spent $200,000 to print voter registration forms,
  • State agencies spent $2.8 million on voter registration activities
  • Counties spent $6.9 million, most of it in payroll costs.

Being the first state to undertake an honest analysis of these costs is a tremendous learning opportunity for the State of Oregon. As Secretary Brown put it, “It’s important to understand that this is the first statewide registration cost survey. So we have no way of knowing whether our costs are high, low or average compared to other states. We’ll learn more as other states take this on.”

And what did we get in terms of measurable gains in registration with this $9.7 million dollars?

Well, we can start with 76,337 (2.8% of those eligible) new registrants from January 1 to the primary election deadline of April 29 of 2008. Add another 144,957 (5.4% of those eligible) registrants from the primary until the general election deadline for an 8.2% total voter registration jump in just one election cycle. But winning registering new voters is only part of the story, a great deal of resources are dedicated to updating voter registration information to insure their accuracy. This includes any address and phone number changes, party registration, etc. for the 2,153,914 registered voters in the State of Oregon, no small task!

Secretary of State Brown was excited about the results of the study and the opportunity to help streamline the voter registration system in Oregon, starting with the opening of the online voter registration in March of 2010. When asked, she said, “Pew has done a terrific job of analyzing costs from all levels of government. This is the first statewide study of its kind in the country and will be a great help to the other states. Knowing the real costs can help us develop a system that spends less on bureaucracy and registers more eligible voters.”

Oregon Secretary of State Brown Discusses Her First Year

Published on December 21, 2009 in Secretary Brown. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Courtesy of The Statesman Journal:

Oregon Secretary of State Brown

Secretary of State Kate Brown said she took steps during her first year in office toward better policing of paid signature-gatherers and promoting alternatives for registration and voting.

Brown likened her 2008 campaign promises to an exercise she attended at the Council of State Governments-West, which she led while still a Democratic state senator. She did the 20 push-ups requested at a session on building credibility, but her counterpart from New Mexico failed.

“The message was clear,” she said at a Marion County DemoForum luncheon. “When you make commitments on the campaign trail, make sure you can deliver on them.”

House Bill 2005, which lawmakers passed during the 2009 session, builds on legislation that Brown shepherded as Senate Rules Committee chairwoman in 2007.

Among other things, the 2009 law holds chief petitioners accountable for the conduct of paid signature-gatherers, and allows the secretary of state or the attorney general to levy maximum civil penalties of $10,000 for legal violations in signature-gathering for ballot-initiative petitions. Civil penalties, which had been $250, can be imposed without the legal burden of proof required in criminal cases.

Also, instead of a single submittal by July in even-numbered years, the law requires paid signature-gathering campaigns to submit signatures monthly.

Brown said the more frequent filings, which apply only to petition campaigns using paid signature-gatherers, will allow more time for state elections officials to verify signatures before the legal deadline. The Oregon Constitution requires verification of petition signatures within 30 days after the filing deadline.

“It is my belief that when we fully implement House Bill 2005, along with the reforms we passed in 2007, Oregonians will have greater confidence that when they vote on initiatives, the initiatives will have gotten on the ballot through legitimate means,” Brown said.

Not part of the new law, but granted by lawmakers, was money in the state budget enabling state elections officials to verify randomly chosen signatures — instead of farming out that task to the 36 counties — and to hire two investigators.

Brown said a statewide voter registration database, required of all states under a 2002 federal law, allows her office to take over verification of signatures for statewide petitions.

Other bills will put Oregon among the handful of states with online voter registration and fax voting — although the latter is restricted to Oregonians on active military duty.

The online system is scheduled to start March 1. It will require eligible voters 18 and older by election day, U.S. citizens and Oregon residents to hold a valid Oregon driver’s license, permit or identification card. A digital copy of the signature on file with the Oregon Department of Transportation will be used to verify a voter’s signature on the back of a ballot envelope.

As is the case with regular registration, voters must affirm they are U.S. citizens. The maximum penalties for violations are five years in prison and a fine of $125,000.

Brown said online registration will allow voters to update their addresses and other changes — and help young people who spend a lot of time online.

“But this is not online voting,” she said. “We are not there yet. As someone who won her first race by seven votes, I want to make sure there is a paper trail that we can do a recount on.”

Brown said the two measures are just small steps toward her larger goal of broadening civic engagement.

Given a September public-opinion survey in which 40 percent of participants said they did not know Oregon has two U.S. senators, Brown said, “we really have our work cut out for us.”

pwong@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6745

The Early Oregonians Project

Published on December 15, 2009 in Archives and Census. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Do you recognize either of these seals?

Don’t feel bad if you don’t! They both predate the State of Oregon but at one time or another they were the official seals of the territory, which now constitutes our great state! The Oregon Territory and The Provisional Government of Oregon are part of our State’s great history and  our Archives Division is working on a project that will help us all get more familiar with some of the people who lived here during that time.

The Early Oregonians Project combines census, death, probate and other records into a searchable database to help researchers find relevant information about the people who lived in Oregon from 1800 to 1860.

To begin, Archives staff outlined an ‘Early Oregonian Criteria’, to establish just who could be counted as an Oregonian. This task was made difficult by the fact that parts of the territories that made up the Oregon of the time are now prominent sections of Washington, Idaho and Montana. For example, the 1850 census for Oregon Territory included what became Washington Territory as soon as 1853. However, in creating the Early Oregonian Criteria it was decided that individuals living in or born in that part of the Oregon Territory prior to 1853 were to be  included in this database as Early Oregonians.

With a criteria in place, staff began extracting vital data and other relevant information on these early Oregonians.

The initial information for this project was taken from the 1850 and 1860 federal censuses conducted in Oregon. A team of volunteers and student interns reviewed the extracted information and combined entries that appeared on both censuses.

In addition to primary sources, various records from the Oregon State Archives such as probate records, death certificates and marriage records were also searched to identify individuals who appeared to meet the criteria. Currently there are over 105,500 entries representing these early Oregonians.

The database is up now, but what you see today is not what the finished project will look like. As additional features of the database are made available, researchers will be able to view a list of associated records for individuals and request copies from the Archives.

Archives is also looking to YOU for help making this project a success! If you have documentation you would like to contribute to the Early Oregonians Database or a website you think might be helpful in our staff locating more information, send an email to Early.Oregonians@state.or.us and let us know!

Table Rocks Preserve

Published on December 9, 2009 in Oregon Land Board and Secretary Brown. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Source: Oregonlive.com

Yesterday, the Oregon State Land Board approved adding the Table Rocks Preserve, also known as the Wood/Beech Tract to the Oregon Register of Natural Heritage Resources Register. The 1,714.75-acre preserve is located in Jackson County approximately 10 miles north of Medford and is home to a number of listed species and rare habitats.

In putting the Wood/Beech tract of the upper Table Rocks Preserve on the register, The Oregon State Land Board has now designated 100 such properties throughout the state, which stand as  examples of Oregon’s Natural Heritage.

Source: Vernalpool.org

Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp - Source: Vernalpool.org

This acquisition also completes the protection of the vernal pool habitat on the summits of both the Upper and Lower Table Rock in addition to the majority of the remaining habitat on the flanks of the two Rocks. This area is home to both the vernal pool fairy shrimp, which the US Fish and Wildlife Service lists as a threatened species, and the dwarf wooly meadow-foam, a species of concern in the area protected by the project.

Secretary of State Brown is one of three State elected officers who serve on the Oregon State Land Board, along with Governor Kulongoski and Treasurer Westlund.  The State Land Board was established under the Oregon Constitution to manage  lands, which were awarded to States by the U.S. Congress in 1802, and serves as trustee of the Common School Fund.

Oregon’s Constitution, Article VIII, Section 5(2), specifies that the Board

…shall manage lands under its jurisdiction with the object of obtaining the greatest benefit for the people of this state, consistent with the conservation of this resource under sound techniques of land management.

Over the years, many of the original school land sections were sold or traded to private individuals and other agencies. Today, the Board́s land base includes nearly 1.6 million acres of state land and resource assets, including agricultural and range land in eastern Oregon, forest land in western Oregon, numerous small tracts, and the submerged and submersible lands beneath the statés tidally-influenced and navigable waterways. The Board also holds title to mineral rights on all these lands and manages the mineral rights on other state agency lands (about 2 million acres total).

The Board leases state lands and other resources to public and private interests for a variety of business activities. Rangeland is leased to ranchers for grazing, timber is sold, and waterway areas are leased for uses such as sand and gravel removal, houseboat moorages, marinas and log storage.

The funds from these leases and sales go towards funding the Common School fund and are a key source of revenue for Oregon’s schools.

The Oregon Sustainability Board

Published on December 4, 2009 in Secretary Brown and Sustainability Board. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Source: Bohemian Nights

Here in Oregon we are proud of our State’s reputation for being a leader, in both thought and action, in the green and sustainable business practices arena. As part of The State of Oregon’s commitment to greater sustainability, the Oregon Sustainability Board was created in 2001, charged with:

Employ[ing] the knowledge, expertise and creativity of Oregons citizens, build[ing] upon existing private and public efforts throughout the state to ensure efficient and complementary results, develop[ing] voluntary, incentive-based and performance oriented systems to supplement traditional regulatory approaches, [using] good science to measure resource use, environ-mental health and costs to determine progress in achieving desired outcomes, and establish[ing] clear measurable goals and targets to guide state efforts toward sustainability

Since being appointed in January of 2009, Secretary of State Brown has chaired the Sustainability Board. In addition to facilitating the meetings, she also sets the strategic direction for the Board, including how the Board’s activities and projects can build on the focus.

On November 20th the Sustainability Board met once again to discuss the progress of ongoing projects and to further develop a strategic vision for the future. During this meeting, the Board determined a major focus will be spotlighting how sustainability can heal the urban/rural divide. Over the next biennium, the Board plans to complete new projects and looks forward to a robust and innovative future.

In addition, the Board will continue to champion its role as facilitator of work on sustainability-related issues within state government and in the broader Oregon community. It will continue to serve as the primary bridge for innovation, environmental stewardship and social equity.

We will continue to post Sustainability Board news and information about upcoming projects on this blog, but until then, to learn more about the Sustainability Board and State Government efforts to promote sustainability in the State of Oregon, check out:

http://www.sustainableoregon.net/oregon/

Secretary of State Brown at KOBI in Medford

Published on November 20, 2009 in Secretary Brown. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Yesterday, Secretary of State Brown stopped by the KOBI studios in Medford for an interview. Thanks to KOBI, we are able to stream that interview here on our blog!

From The Ballot Box to The Scanner

Published on November 19, 2009 in Elections. 0 Comments Tags: .

Elections are the bedrock of our democracy and something we at the Secretary of State’s Office take very seriously.

As we noted on this blog, there was an election on November 3rd in many of our State’s counties. In talking to elections officials around this special election, I came away with the impression that despite measures to allow for observation of the process by bystanders, officials are still combating the perception that our elections are susceptible to corruption.

In light of this, I took the opportunity to head over to the elections offices in both Clackamas and Washington Counties in order to take a behind the scenes tour of the elections process.

My first trip was to Clackamas County Elections, where I was welcomed by County Clerk Sherry Hall. Below is a slide-show that will take you from ‘your’ ballot being picked up at an official drop-off location, to the ballot being scanned and stored for tabulation.

Authorized Personnel Only!

Authorized Personnel Only!
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The door to the ballot reception/counting room. This room is kept under lock and is only accessible by elections staff.

Continue reading ‘From The Ballot Box to The Scanner’

Breaking Down Silos

Published on November 18, 2009 in Corporation. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Source: debbieweil.com

We often hear that government bureaucracy is slow to respond, difficult to deal with and frustratingly opaque. One of the major problems  is that government agencies tend to be like silos; isolated and unable to effectively share information and contribute to improving the function of state government.

Back in September, we highlighted the Central Business Registry in light of our Corporation and Information Services Divisions being awarded a Digital Government Achievement Award in the Government-to-Business category. But aside from winning awards, we at the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office believe that the CBR is a tremendous example of how government agencies can create frameworks upon which they can build  projects to share information and streamline their processes.

Currently, customers can log on to the CBR and complete registration with the Oregon Corporation Division, Employment Department, and the Department of Revenue. The next phase of development will bring the Department of Consumer and Business Services into the mix, further streamlining the process.

There are a couple of state agency functions, which could benefit from a Central Business Registry framework. The licensing process, for instance, could be dramatically improved by an online registry built on the same principles as the CBR. The usefulness of such a system would span across the licensing spectrum, helping construction contractors, health care professionals and especially convenience store , restaurant, taverns owners, all of whom have a vast array of licensing needs.

Making the process more fluid for customers is just one great benefit the CBR has produced. Another is the tremendous number of hours that are saved when customers use CBR. The Secretary of State saves approximately 400 hours a month, while the Department of Revenue boasts a savings of roughly 135 hours a month in processing time. These savings translate to improved services to the State’s business customers as well as savings to the agencies involved. In looking to future applications of a CBR framework, these kinds of savings could mean huge gains in productivity across State agencies.

We will be sure to highlight new developments in the CBR as they arrive.