Summary of Oregon Ballot Measures
I have written blog entries on most of these Oregon ballot measures. The following is a summary of the measures and how I would encourage you to vote:
Vote YES on Measure 54: Standardizes voting eligibility for school board elections with other state and local election.
Vote YES on Measure 55: Changes operative date of redistricting plans to allow affected legislators to finish their terms in their original district.
Vote YES on Measure 56: May And November property tax elections are to be decided by majority of voters voting in the relevant election.
Vote YES on Measure 57: Increases sentences for drug trafficking, theft against elderly, and specific repeat property and identity theft crimes.
Vote NO on Measure 58: Requires English immersion for non-English speaking student.
Vote NO on Measure 59: Makes federal income taxes fully deductible on state tax returns.
Vote NO on Measure 60: Teacher compensation must be based on classroom performance.
Vote NO on Measure 61: Mandatory sentences for drug dealers, identity thieves, burglars, and car thieves.
Vote NO on Measure 62: 15% of lottery profits for crime prevention, investigation and prosecution.
Vote NO on Measure 63: Allows “minor” improvements to property without building a permit.
Vote NO on Measure 64: Prohibits using taxpayer-funded resources to collect political funds.
Vote YES on Measure 65: Creates open primaries. All voters would be able to vote in all state and local partisan elections, regardless of party affiliation.
The first four measures were presented by the legislature after careful consideration. All four of them deserve our YES vote as they are reasonable solutions to problems in our law.
Most of the remainder of the measures are written by individuals to advance their own personal agendas. In most cases they are badly written to the point where it is unclear as to what they are supposed to fix. In all cases, they clearly are not in the best interests of the State of Oregon or it’s citizens as a whole.
In the case of Measure 65, I originally said that I was unsure as to what we should do on this matter. Washington State is still on it’s first election cycle using a very similar system, and it would have been interesting to see how that went before jumping-in in Oregon. But it does have merits, and I will be voting YES on that measure.
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