Note: This post offers an interesting idea about one of the core elements of Oregon's democracy. The IPO generally supports making our democratic instruments more readily available to average citizens and believes in the importance of an informed electorate. The party has some serious concerns about political and legislative efforts that have resulted in the hyper-professionalization, greatly increased costs, and increasingly mercenary nature of the initiative and referendum system and would like to see control of that system restored to the people of Oregon, instead of to the politically powerful or the wealthy few.

Editorial: Internet could help initiatives

Hasso Hering
Albany Democrat-Herald
March 24, 2009

Most of our legislators want to make life easier for voters by using the Internet, but not all the time.

The House last week voted 45-9 for HB 2386, directing the secretary of state to set up a system so citizens can register to vote online. (The opponents included Albany’s Andy Olson.)

Kate Brown, the secretary of state, assured lawmakers that online registrations would be just as secure as the traditional way.

The bill as passed by the House requires the DMV to give the secretary of state a digital copy of the driver license or ID card signature of anyone who registers online. You don’t have to be a citizen to get a driver’s license, so the system will do nothing to overcome the current weakness in voter registrations.

Still, most House members are eager to make things easier for voters, especially young voters who already spend their lives online.

They are not as eager to help voters who disagree with something the legislature has done, or who want to pass something the legislature has refused to pass.

Brown is asking the legislature for additional requirements on voter initiatives, among them that people paid to collect signatures on prospective petitions register with her office first and complete a training program.

But if it’s possible to use the Internet for secure election procedures such as signing up new voters, why not work out a system where initiatives could be submitted and even circulated online?

Handling initiative petitions online would solve several problems, including that of paid petition collectors coming up with phony names. It would also do away with the uncertainty in counting signatures.

After meeting the initial procedural requirements, proposed initiatives could be posted on the secretary of state’s site. Supporters could sign them there electronically, and their status as voters could be verified electronically too.

You won’t see such a system any time soon. It’s one thing to flatter potential young voters who spend their lives online. It’s quite another to make it easy for voters generally, including older ones, to have their say on laws. (hh)

The Independent Party of Oregon, the state's third largest political party (with more than 44,000 members) today rolled out an ambitious agenda for good government reforms in the 2009 legislative session.

Note on June 29, 2009: We have indicated below the ultimate outcome of each of these bills. Of the 5 priority bills, 4 were enacted. The other one was passed by the House but killed in Senate Rules Committee.

HB 2386 - ELECTRONIC VOTER REGISTRATION (enacted)

This directs Secretary of State to adopt an electronic voter registration system, which would allow qualified electors to complete their voter registration electronically.

"This idea has been adopted with great success in Washington and California. It makes it easier for younger people and folks who are overseas to register to vote in Oregon," said the party's Secretary, Sal Peralta.

HB 2414 - CROSS NOMINATIONS LISTED ON BALLOT (enacted)

This would allow candidates who are nominated by one or more political party (cross nominated) up to two party identifiers printed next to their names on the general election ballot. This bill brings Oregon law into greater agreement with Federal laws as it relates to the recognition of state party committees that seek to support federal candidates. It clarifies existing Oregon law and settles to the satisfaction of all parties concerned a legal dispute between the Secretary of State and the Independent and Working Families parties," according to Linda Williams, the party's chair.

After this bill passed the House by 53-7 on March 31, it was stuck in the Senate Rules Committee until June 23, when it was suddenly and without notice sent to the Joint Ways & Means Committee. There it was "gutted and stuffed" with entirely different content. But on June 24 the House Rules Committee amended SB 326 (see below) to insert all of HB 2414. That bill then passed the House by 42-17 and the Senate by 25-5. The Democratic Party of Oregon (DPO) urged Governor Kulongoski to veto the bill, but he signed it.

SB 326 - REPEALING DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF NONAFFILIATED VOTERS (enacted)

In 2005, the Oregon State Legislature, by wide margins of both Democrats and Republicans, enacted HB 2614, a law intended to keep independent candidates off of the Oregon ballot by disqualifying all Republicans and Democrats who vote (on anything) in the primary election from signing any petition for a candidate seeking to qualify for the general election. The bill introduced other complications into the process for qualifying any candidate for the ballot by means of collecting signatures of voters. The only two Oregonians to testify against this bill were Dan Meek and Blair Bobier (of the Pacific Green Party). HB 2614 has made it more than twice as difficult to qualify any candidate for the November ballot by means of petitioning.

Senator Rick Metsger then made repeal of HB 2614 a cornerstone of his unsuccessful 2008 run for Secretary of State. He is making good on his promise to get it repealed. The Oregon Senate on May 13 voted for SB 326 by 27-0. The House Rules Committee on June 14 inserted the provisions of HB 2414 (see above), and the combined bill then passed the House 42-17 and the Senate 25-5. The Democratic Party of Oregon (DPO) urged Governor Kulongoski to veto the bill, but he signed it.

HB 2500 - BUDGET DISCLOSURE (enacted)

This directs the DAS to create and maintain a web site listing revenue and expenditures of state agencies and requires the agencies to prepare a monthly report on government spending.

"This bill brings much-needed transparency to the budget process. We believe that it will help to increase citizen involvement and oversight of a budget that has grown significantly over the past few decades," said Peralta.

HB 2588 - NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE (passed by House; killed in Senate Rules Committee)

This enacts the Interstate Compact for Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote.

The Initiative Process: A Better Way July 21, 2008 By Dan Meek and Harry Lonsdale

It's initiative season again. The time when young people with clipboards approach us on the streets or at bus stops, or in front of post offices, to get our signatures on petitions for the ballot measures we may vote on in November.

From one point of view, the initiative process is a drag. Signature gatherers pester us, take our time, and can be gruff at times. As sometime signature gatherers ourselves, we can speak to the opposite side of that coin. Gathering signatures in the rain or heat, or knocking on the doors of sometimes hostile people, or fending off their menacing dogs, can be daunting. And the best public places to gather signatures (parking lots of large stores) are now off limits to petition circulators.

On the other hand, the initiative is a beautiful thing. It allows We the People to make laws, even amend our state constitution, and fix things that our Legislature is afraid or unwilling to fix. Oregonians have used the initiative more than the people of any other state, and we've used it for good causes: Women got the right to vote in Oregon via the initiative eight years before the U.S. Constitution was similarly amended. The 8-hour work day, the 40-hour work week and the nation's highest minimum wage were enacted by initiative.

Our death-with-dignity law and the scenic waterway system both became law by initiative. Many other valuable laws, such as the nation's first "bottle bill," were passed by the Legislature because supporters were ready and able to put the measure of the ballot, if the Legislature failed to act.

But gathering signatures to get initiatives on the ballot has become much more difficult since 2000. The Oregon Supreme Court eight years ago reversed course and removed the right of petitioners to collect signatures in the common areas of shopping centers or in parking lots of other stores. The Secretary of State and Oregon Legislature have imposed onerous regulations that are so difficult for ordinary people to follow (or even comprehend) that there will be zero measures on the 2008 ballot put there by volunteer circulators.

Citizens just cannot put measures on the statewide ballot any more. Too much cost and hassle. Signature gathering has been taken over by small businesses that pay people to do the dirty work. And the cost of gathering signatures using paid employees is so great — now $300,000 and up for each statewide initiative — that only the well-heeled or corporations or labor unions can afford it.

But there's a better way: The Initiative Primary. Every May in the even-numbered years, we have a primary election and receive a detailed Voters Pamphlet from the Secretary of State. Under the Initiative Primary, any individual or group could gather a significant number of signatures (perhaps 10,000 or 5,000 from volunteers only) to qualify the measure for inclusion in the May Voters Pamphlet, along with pro and con arguments about the measure. The voters would then vote, as part of their vote-by-mail ballot, for those measures that they would like to see on the November ballot. Those measures that receive a majority of yes votes would be included on the November ballot for voters to enact or reject. Simple. Painless. No fraud. No huge expense. No need to separately validate the voter signatures, which are already checked as part of the vote-by-mail process.

Who could object to this? Those who would rather that average voters have no say in a government dominated by lobbyists and other contributors of massive campaign cash.

Dan Meek is an attorney who lives in Portland. He can be reached at press@meek.net.Harry Lonsdale is a retired scientist and former candidate for the U.S. Senate who lives in Sisters. He can be reached at (541) 549-1556.

Lawsuit Sparks Petition Signature Reform Bill

Oregon Public Broadcasting
By Chris Lehman
Salem, OR February 8, 2008 8:38 a.m.

Some people are calling for reform after a recent federal lawsuit over the way Oregon verifies signatures on initiative petitions. Salem correspondent Chris Lehman has more.

Opponents of a gay rights bill sued in federal court saying signatures on a petition to overturn the law were improperly rejected.

The judge threw out the suit but said it raised significant questions about Oregon’s citizen initiative process.

The Oregon Legislature has passed HB 2082 to restrict the initiative process and centralize power in the Legislature.