Move Oregon’s Border announced that it has collected more than enough signatures to force a “Greater Idaho” ballot initiative onto a Klamath County ballot next year. Although only 1696 signatures are required to qualify for the ballot in Klamath County, Move Oregon’s Border volunteers, including Allen Headley, collected 2796 signatures thanks to a groundswell of support at their county fair booth, ropings, and restaurants.
Move Oregon’s Border said that it would not submit the signatures until completing a successful fundraising campaign. “We’d like to be on the ballot in May instead of November 2022, but we need the partnership of industry and major donors so that we can let voters know the benefits of moving the Oregon/Idaho border. We are asking our fans to connect us with potential major donors so that we can deliver a convincing win in Douglas and Klamath counties. We want to spend $25k in Klamath County and at least $40k in Douglas County,” said Mike McCarter, the president of Move Oregon’s Border. The group had already announced that it has enough signatures for the Douglas County ballot.
Move Oregon’s Border is also making progress in Josephine County, where 916 of 2429 signatures required have been collected. According to greateridaho.org, the group is farther behind in Curry, Morrow, and Umatilla counties, but the deadlines for each county are in Spring 2022. You can get a petition to sign here: www.greateridaho.org/petitions-to-put-greater-idaho-on-the-ballot
“We have a real shot at convincing the Oregon Legislature to let our counties go because getting rid of a group of counties that have the same average income as Idaho would be a great boost to the Oregon state budget, and getting rid of our legislative seats would reduce gridlock in the Oregon Legislature,” Mike McCarter said, “Recent OVBC polling showed that in Oregon there is no majority opposed or in favor of it, because Oregonians are still undecided.”
