Representative Dan Rayfield (D)Corvallis has introduced HB 2684, which would require the Oregon Secretary of State or county clerk, rather than filer, to designate argument filed for publication in voters' pamphlet as either supporting or opposing a ballot measure.

Rayfield has been trying to change how elections in Oregon work now for at least 5 years in the Oregon legislature, including a bill that would allow 17-year-olds to vote. He has again introduced additional legislative concepts that would change how these important processes work.

House Bill 2684 would put into law one of many election changes that have been proposed by the state Democrats as of late, and it would fundamentally alter one of the only independent processes that Oregon citizens are currently entitled to which the legislature is not traditionally a part of.

The initiative and referendum processes allow people to propose laws or amendments to the state Constitution, or adopt or reject a bill passed by the Oregon Legislature.

If chief petitioners gather and submit the required number of signatures, the initiative or referendum is placed on the ballot for voters to adopt or reject.

If Rayfield's idea passes through the supermajority Democrat Oregon legislature, the freedom to write ones own argument in the voter's pamphlet may soon be gone.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2021-03-09 02:58:12

Last Update: 2021-03-09 23:04:32