By Taxpayers Association of Oregon / OregonWatchdog.com
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By ramming the gas tax election into the May Primary, it shortens the time for voters to issue voter pamphlet arguments on the ballot measure. This is especially true for citizens who wish to get their voter pamphlet arguments submitted through the free process by gathering 500 signatures for their voter argument.
This is the sad impact of SB 1599, which is to swap the gas tax referendum for the popular General Election and stick it in the May Primary with low voter turnout.
In an act of fairness, the Secretary of State, Tobias Read, set February 25th as the deadline for the State Legislature to put a ballot measure for the May Primary election. This, according to Read, gives the Election Office and voters more time to file voter arguments.
The Legislature had the chance to pass the bill before the February 25th deadline but did not do so. This means the politicians are intentionally delaying the clock for voters — just like Governor Kotek delayed the clock and limited the time citizens had to collect signatures for the referendum.
Now there is pressure on the Secretary of State to surrender his stated principles and timeline to protect voters. People should call the Secretary of State and encourage him to stand behind his voter protections and not let the lawmakers steal away time for voters to submit voter pamphlet statements.
Let’s review how we got here:
- Last year, Kotek and the Democrat majority leadership blocked voters by rushing out a gas tax during the final days of session (it failed).
- Kotek called an emergency Special Session and blocked voters by rushing the tax through Labor Day weekend.
- Kotek delayed signing her own bill in order to cut in half the time referendum petitioners had to gather signatures.
- Kotek signed the bill on a Friday night after business hours to further conceal her efforts and block voters.
- Having failed to stop voters (the referendum gathered 250,000+ signatures), the lawmakers are moving the election date from November to May.
- By moving it to May not only lowers voter turnout but it handicaps voters’ ability to submit voter arguments on their own ballot measure they brought to the ballot.
- By delaying the move to May (happening right now), they further reduce time for voters to submit voter pamphlet arguments.
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