We are proud to share our new Online Voter Registration TV spot, which is showing up on Television screens across the state:
This is the first of many videos we will be adding to our new YouTube channel. Stay tuned for more TV spots and other videos from the Secretary of State’s office.
Don’t forget to goto Oregonvotes.org for more all the elections related information you might need. Then, go get registered to vote before the April 27th deadline!
Oregon has joined 17 other states in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to guarantee that the petitions collected for citizen initiatives remain public records.
Last Tuesday, Oregon joined 17 other states in an amicus curiae brief filed by Ohio in Doe v. Reed, which asks the court to find that initiative petitions are exempt from state public records laws and may be kept secret. The court will hear oral arguments in the case April 28.
Attorney General John Kroger explained the position of those filing the brief, in terms of Oregon’s commitment to open government, “Oregon has a compelling interest in preventing election fraud, ensuring the integrity of its elections and promoting open government,” said Attorney General Kroger. “I really appreciate Secretary of State Brown’s leadership on this issue.” He went on to say that designating initiative petitions as secret would violate Oregon’s long tradition of open government and undermine public confidence in the citizen initiative system, which has been a critical part of Oregon’s political culture for 108 years.
In recent years, other states have experienced incidents of petition fraud. In 2006 alone, the Montana Supreme Court invalidated every signature collected by non-resident petition circulators and three ballot initiatives because the circulators engaged in bait-and-switch tactics. The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down an initiative petition because of a pervasive pattern of wrongdoing and fraud in the signature collection process, and a federal district court concluded that circulators misrepresented the purpose of a Michigan initiative petition.
Doe v. Reed began with a citizen effort to reverse a domestic partnership law passed in 2009 by the Washington Legislature. Opponents turned in enough signatures to place the referendum on the November 2009 ballot. Voters rejected the effort and upheld the law.
Independent groups sought the names of the voters who signed the petitions and supporters of the measure sued Secretary of State Sam Reed, hoping to keep the signers’ names secret. The challenge to Washington’s open records law was rejected at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and now will be heard by Supreme Court, a decision is expected by early summer.
So what do you think? Should petitions be public record or should the become private after they’ve been turned in?
A Federal Court Judge ruled today in favor of Oregon’s efforts to crack down on fraud and abuse in the ballot initiative system, dismissing all claims filed in a challenge to HB2082 from the 2007 legislative session.
The bill established new requirements for petitioners and signature gatherers, banning anyone convicted of fraud, forgery or identity theft from being a paid signature gatherer. Furthermore, it required paid signature gatherers to register with the State of Oregon and complete a short course of instruction on compliance with elections law. Finally, HB2082 also required chief petitioners to produce payroll records to establish that signature gatherers are not being paid per signature, a practice Oregon voters banned by approving a 2002 Constitutional amendment.
U.S. District Judge Michael R. Hogan found that the new rules did not restrict the constitutional rights of the sponsors of citizen initiatives:
“Those lesser burdens are justified by Oregon’s interests in administrative efficiency and ensuring compliance with the Oregon Constitution’s prohibition against payment of petition circulators on a per signature basis,” Hogan said in his decision. He added that, “State interest in maintaining the integrity of the petition process are significant and outweigh the burden these statutory requirements to keep and submit detailed accounts place on chief petitioners.”
Secretary of State Brown, then the Senate Majority Leader, played a part in drafting the bill with Senator Diane Rosenbaum. She applauded the court’s decision, calling it “A win for all Oregonians.”
Don’t forget, your 2010 United States Census forms must be turned in by April first to avoid a house visit from census takers. A countdown can be found above.
If you have any questions on filling out the form, check on the Census’ instructions here.
If by some chance, you haven’t received a form yet, please call the Telephone Questionnaire Assistance center at 1-866-872-6868. (If you prefer a Spanish-speaking operator, then dial 1-866-928-2010.) The lines will be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. (your local time) seven days a week from February 25, 2010 through July 30, 2010. For the hearing-impaired, TDD 1-866-783-2010 (during the times noted above).
For some up to the minute information, please also follow the US Census on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/uscensusbureau.
Every person counted in the State of Oregon will help in securing millions of dollars in federal funding over the next 10 years! Securing this vital funding is in our hands, so please send in your forms as soon as possible!
Tuesday was filing day here in the Capitol!
Candidates for all State House, State Senate and Statewide Office primary races had a 5pm deadline to file for office, and the building was buzzing with excitement! A full list of candidates for the May primary election can be found on ORESTAR by clicking here.
Now that candidates have filed, they will have until 5pm to turn in their Voter’s Pamphlet statement for the primary election. The Voter’s Pamphlet goes out to every registered voter in the State. Elections staff has told me that the elevator to the 5th floor of the Public Service Building will shut down promptly at 5pm, so if you’re worried about getting it in on time, make sure you give yourself at least a few minutes.
Below are some pictures from the floor of the house on Filing Day.
The Secretary of State’s office turned out in big numbers this last month for the 2010 Governor’s State Employees Food Drive. Secretary of State Kate Brown cheered some of the division representatives recently as the collection was readied for pickup.
Front: Adrianos Polous from Archive, Back: From left, Christie Call from Information Services and Heather Wilson from Corporation. And Secretary Brown standing in the barrel.
Employees of the all seven divisions of the Secretary of State’s office collected 829 pounds of food and donated $5,959, which will generate another 29,796 pounds for a total of 30,625 pounds of food for Oregon’s families in need.
The state employee drive started Feb. 1 and ran for four weeks until Feb. 26. State employees across state agencies collected food, raised cash, earmarked contributions from paychecks, and bought special fleece blankets to support the Governor’s efforts.
From our offices here in the Capitol, the food was taken to be sorted and sent to 20 different food banks that serve all 36 Oregon counties, as well as Clark County in Southwest Washington.
The food drive is a great example of Oregonians banding together, even in tough economic times, to support our State’s most vulnerable families and individuals.
As many of you are aware, Online Voter Registration has been LIVE for one week now!
In just one week of service, over 1049 Oregonians have registered to vote using the new system.
Remember, Online Voter Registration is NOT replacing paper registration, it is simply offering up an alternative to the paper system for those who would use it. As Secretary of State Brown stated in a recent Oregonian Op-Ed:
It will help people who find traditional procedures out of reach, including the housebound and the disabled community. With the right equipment, for example, sightless people can register without the assistance of another person to fill out a card. Our military servicemen and women will find far less delay in registration, eliminating worries about whether the snail mail will deliver their paperwork in time.
We are extremely happy to have the system up and running and hope that Oregonians continue to get registered to vote in the upcoming May Primary Election.
We’ll leave you today with a table with of some more detailed information on registrations done with the Online system:
| Online Voter Registration Statistics as of 11:30am, 3/8/2010 | |
| Total Registrations | 1049 |
| Registration Type | |
| Type | # of Registrations |
| Electronic (DMV signature exists) | 829 |
| Paper (no DMV signature) | 220 |
| Total | 1049 |
| Registrations by Party | |
| Party | # of Registrations |
| Constitution Party | 0 |
| Democratic Party | 346 |
| Independent Party | 140 |
| Libertarian Party | 13 |
| Not a member of a party | 198 |
| Other | 11 |
| Pacific Green Party | 17 |
| Progressive Party | 6 |
| Republican Party | 275 |
| Working Families Party | 5 |
| No Party Selected | 38 |
| Total | 1049 |
| Registrations by County | |
| County | # of Registrations |
| Baker | 1 |
| Benton | 9 |
| Clackamas | 96 |
| Clatsop | 9 |
| Columbia | 9 |
| Coos | 12 |
| Crook | 13 |
| Deschutes | 97 |
| Douglas | 28 |
| Harney | 2 |
| Hood River | 4 |
| Jackson | 62 |
| Jefferson | 9 |
| Josephine | 22 |
| Klamath | 23 |
| Lake | 3 |
| Lane | 117 |
| Lincoln | 7 |
| Linn | 29 |
| Malheur | 3 |
| Marion | 72 |
| Morrow | 1 |
| Multnomah | 219 |
| Polk | 20 |
| Tillamook | 2 |
| Umatilla | 3 |
| Union | 6 |
| Washington | 139 |
| Wheeler | 2 |
| Yamhill | 30 |
| Total | 1049 |
| Registrations by Age | |
| Age Group | # of Registrations |
| 17-19 | 49 |
| 20-29 | 246 |
| 30-39 | 240 |
| 40-49 | 167 |
| 50-59 | 152 |
| 60-69 | 124 |
| 70-79 | 55 |
| 80-89 | 16 |
| Total | 1049 |
We are very excited to announce that our Online Voter Registration system going live on March 1st, and very busy getting ready for this monumental project to launch.
We wanted to invite everyone to take part in a webinar demo of the most user-friendly, convenient and secure way of registering to vote in the State of Oregon. This informational demo will take participants through the online registration process, from beginning to end, followed by a short question and answer session with Elections Director Steve Trout.
Our online participants will join members of the Legislature, advocacy groups and state wide media, who will be viewing the presentation from inside the Capitol Building in Salem.
The webinar will take place on February 25, 2010 at 9:00am. Registration information for the webinar can be found at this link:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/790747411
We hope to see you there!
Courtesy of Statesman Journal
The Statesman Journal has done a write up on Secretary of State Kate Brown’s participation in a recent Census event on the steps of the Capitol. The Secretary spoke about the importance of a complete count for the State of Oregon, both in terms of federal dollars and the possibility of adding an all-important sixth congressional district.
From the article:
Secretary of State Kate Brown urged residents to participate at Wednesday’s event on the steps of the state Capitol.
“It means money for Oregon,” Brown said. “We want to make sure we get our fair share. … Our state government and our local governments need every dollar.”
Brown spoke with a group of Canby High School students who visited the Capitol and sat in on the Legislative session as part of their Future Business Leaders of America group.
So why exactly is a complete and accurate Census count so important to the state of Oregon?
To put the count’s impact in real terms, there will be close to $400 billion dollars in federal funding to be distributed over the next few years. The results of the 2010 Census count will be major factor in helping decision makers in Washington, D.C. decide where those funds will go. In these tough economic times for the state, this is a big deal. As Michael Burns, the deputy regional director of the U.S. Census Bureau mentions in the article, each person counted means roughly $1,400 for state and local governments.
To give you an idea of where this money can be used, here are just a few examples of where federal money was allocated in 2007:
These are programs that have a massive impact on people’s lives.
The Census count will also determine whether or not Oregon’s population has grown so much since the last count that we require a sixth congressional district. This would mean that Oregon would have another Representative to join our already stellar representation in the US Congress. Greater representation in Washington means a louder voice for Oregonians; and this is a good thing.
Census forms will arrive by mid-March of this year. We are hoping to make 2010 the most complete count in Oregon’s history. It’s in our hands!
Vancouver, British Columbia is the home of a little event called the 2010 Olympics. On the 12th of February, Vancouver also hosted the latest convening of the Pacific Coast Collaborative conference. The conference featured Govs. Schwarzenegger or California and Gregoire of Washington, Premier of British Columbia Gordon Campbell and filling in for Governor Kulongoski, our very own Secretary of State Kate Brown!
Below is a video of the press conference, which followed the discussions. For Secretary of State Brown’s statements, you’ll have to fast forward to the 6:24 mark.
Here are links to parts: 1, 2 and 4 as well.
The Secretary was honored to be able to come together with the Pacific Coast’s most prominent leaders to discuss the how the entire Pacific Coast can come together to solve the most pressing environmental issues of the future.
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