News Clackamas County Clerk Sherry Hall's decision to reprint ballots to fix an error in earlier versions has set off quite the battle between the county board of commissioners and Hall, who oversees the county's elections office. County chairwoman Lynn Peterson tells WW that she finds the original error "unacceptable" and has asked the Secretary of State's office to investigate and do a performance ...   More

News Nearly three out of five registered voters in Oregon didn't turn in a ballot. But of course there's always another way to look at things. Secretary of State Kate Brown said today, the day after yesterday's election,"Oregon voters proved her wrong and easily exceeded her turnout projection." Brown had forecast that turnout would be 37 percent. But actually, turnout was 41 percent. “I ...   More

News One of the biggest bucks ballot measures aimed at the November ballot in Oregon is Initiative Petition 70. The measure would enshrine in the state Constitution the 15 percent allocation of Oregon Lottery proceeds to parks and natural areas. That 15-percent set-aside has been in effect for more than a decade, thanks to voter approval of a 1998 ballot measure. But the set-aside will expire in 2014, ...   More

News Over the past couple of weeks, an election-year dispute between the Democratic Party of Oregon and the Independent Party of Oregon has played out in a complaint to the Secretary of State and a response from the Independent Party. On May 21, Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown issued a "cease and desist letter" [PDF] to Sal Peralta of the Independent Party (Oregon's third-largest party and one ...   More

News Former Oregon Secretary of State Phil Keisling (above) recently circulated a fascinating, if depressing, review of who voted in the state's May primary. His overall conclusion is that young Oregonians completely sat out the May contest. And here are two supporting bits of information from Keisling's analysis of the data released by Secretary of State Kate Brown's spokesman Don Hamilton: 1. ...   More

News Two very different initiatives have turned in enough valid signatures to qualify for the Oregon ballot this November. Secretary of State Kate Brown announced today that Initiative Petitions 13 and 28 each have more than the required 82,769 valid signatures required of a statutory change to qualify for the ballot. Initiative Petition 13, a Kevin Mannix measure, would impose mandatory minimum ...   More

News An initiative that would ask voters this November to change the way Oregon conducts redistricting each decade has failed to turn in enough valid signatures, the Secretary of State's office said today. But that doesn't close the matter since Kevin Mannix and other backers of the proposed amendment to the state Constitution are suing to challenge the state's invalidation of signatures. The proposed ...   More

News Oregon's lineup of statewide initiatives is now set for the Nov. 2 ballot. The final initiative awaiting word from state officials on signature verifications was one supported by enviros to lock into the Oregon Constitution 15 percent of Oregon Lottery proceeds for parks and habitat. The Secretary of State's office said today that backers of the proposal did turn in enough valid signatures. ...   More

News A Salem non-profit filed a federal lawsuit today against Oregon Attorney General John Kroger and Secretary of State Kate Brown. The lawsuit, filed by one of the country's highest-profile opponents of campaign finance regulation, is on behalf of the Oregon War Veterans Association. The lawsuit filed in in U.S. District Court in Eugene seeks to stop Kroger from releasing documents that the AG's ...   More