Oregon law allows 24 months to collect signatures for ballot initiatives, but Jackson County only allows 12. Move Oregon’s Border announced today that it had missed this deadline in Jackson County, having only gathered 2168 of the 6115 signatures required. They pointed with pride to their ability to gather more than a thousand signatures in the final week, though.
Move Oregon’s Border has already collected enough signatures to be on the ballot in ten counties, and is still gathering signatures in five: Curry, Josephine, Klamath, Morrow, and Umatilla. The final deadlines for those counties is next Spring, although finishing earlier allows placement on an earlier ballot. Four counties haven’t given permission to circulate official petitions.
Mike McCarter, president of Move Oregon’s Border, said he is planning to present the signatures to Jackson County Commissioners. He will ask them to meet with Idaho legislators to support moving the Oregon/Idaho border.
The effort in Jackson County is not a total loss. Last year, the effort caused the Mail Tribune to write an article about Greater Idaho. This campaign has increased awareness of Greater Idaho among local voters, helped raise funds for advertising in counties where we got on the ballot, and will help put pressure on state legislators. These things are the goal of any of our county campaigns, whether we get on the ballot or not. Thank you very much for signing and collecting.
Jackson County will not be left out of the border relocation if we can prove that southern Oregon loves the idea of joining Idaho just as much as eastern Oregon does. We’ll get the opportunity to prove that when Douglas County votes on Greater Idaho again. We already have enough signatures to put it on the ballot. Please donate so we can fund the Douglas County campaign. We need $15k to send an oversize postcard to every door in the county so that people will understand what they are voting on and why Idaho’s governance is better for rural Oregon.
A county does not need to get Greater Idaho onto the ballot to be included in Greater Idaho. These petition campaigns don’t actually move the border- they just put pressure on state legislators to move the border by showing the will of the voters.