Sec State: Dem bill imperils "free and equal" election process

Democrats want to rewrite Oregon election law to avoid appearing on the Nov ballot with their unpopular transportation tax hike

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read (photo courtesy Read campaign)

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read (D) yesterday morning told legislative leaders of both parties that failure to pass by the end of the day supermajority Democrats’ sweeping one-off rewrite of ballot measure law to move the date of the public vote on repealing Democrats’ $4.3 billion transportation tax hike would jeopardize Oregonians’ “fair and equal chance to participate in the voters’ pamphlet process related to this referendum, should it be on the ballot in May.” Read’s email to legislators was first reported by The Oregonian yesterday.

The day came to a close without House passage of the bill, which was previously approved by the Senate. It is on the agenda for a House vote today, but Republicans, who oppose the tax hike and moving the date of the election from November to May, have previously delayed progress on the bill.

In his email, published in full for the first time below, Read warned legislators delays beyond yesterday’s deadline, established in a January 27 memo from his office, makes it “more challenging for my office” to allow voters to collect signatures in lieu of paying $1,200 to get an argument for or against the tax repeal in the Voter Pamphlet to accompany ballots. “This could impact Oregonians’ ability to make an informed decision about the referendum and for proponents or opponents to make their voices heard,” Read wrote.

Oregon law provides two options for placing an argument in the Voters Pamphlet: pay $1,200 or collect 500 signatures from registered Oregon voters. The deadline for submitting arguments to the Secretary of State to begin the signature-gathering process would have been January 19. The Democrats’ bill did not yet exist, then. So, the bill would shorten the opportunity to collect signatures in order to accommodate holding the tax referendum vote May, rather than November.

Senate President Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) earlier this month admitted Democrats’ urgency to upend Oregon election law to move the vote to May arises from their interest in protecting their own political viability, according to OPB:

“Is it political? For sure,” Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, told reporters last week. “I don’t think people want to see this on a November ballot.” Wagner’s office later sought to downplay his remarks.

Read’s warning may be tied to legal concerns about shortening free access to the Voter Pamphlet. The Oregon and federal constitutions guarantee equal and free exercise of political speech. Having established a forum for such speech in the Voter Pamphlet, Oregon Democrats are treading on thin legal ice by changing the rules midstream to make it more difficult, or perhaps effectively impossible, for Oregonians who cannot afford $1,200 for access to the Voter Pamphlet.

To further speed progress toward a May vote, the Democrats’ bill would eliminate citizen participation in drafting the explanatory statement and financial estimate that would appear on the ballot, putting a Democrat-dominated legislative committee in charge of drafting, instead of committees including citizens and public hearings.

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