Voters’ Pamphlet organization confuses some voters
The Oregon Voters’ Pamphlet is designed to help voters, but this fall, it’s causing some confusion.
Voters can read arguments for Measure 97 toward the middle of the 150-page publication, but the 24-page county insert of local races and measures happens to fall in the middle of the arguments over the measure, putting the statements against the corporate tax hike farther back.
“It happened to fall within the middle of Measure 97 in the state Voters’ Pamphlet,” Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship said Monday.
“There is a nice little index that tells you where the different arguments begin and end,” she added.
The county elections office has added some features to the pamphlet to separate local and state issues.
The local races also have a gray bar along the edge of the pamphlet, so voters can tell at a glance where it begins and ends, Blankenship said.
The Secretary of State’s Office said counties across the state have received different versions of the voters’ pamphlet. The local counties’ pamphlet will usually just be inserted in the middle of the state’s pamphlet.
“Coincidental that it comes in the middle of the ballot measure in Deschutes County,” said the office’s communications director, Molly Woon. “In fact, in different counties around the state, it is in a different place of the insert. So there is not intent here. We do regret that there has been some confusion.”
NewsChannel 21 reached out to both sides of Measure 97 for their reaction.
Representatives of the ‘Yes on 97’ side declined to comment, but the ‘No on 97’ campaign submitted this statement:
“Our campaign is obviously concerned by contacts we’ve had from voters confused about he disconnection of information and arguments about Measure 97 in voters’ pamphlets for some counties.
“State elections officials have explained to us that county voters’ pamphlets are placed in the middle of the state Voters’ Pamphlet, and the state Voters’ Pamphlet varies in length in different counties, depending on the number of state legislative races the pamphlet covers.
“We hope elections officials at the state and local levels will remind voters about the insertion of their local county Voters’ Pamphlet and encourage them to review all the information about state measures, both before and after the county pamphlet insert,” said Defeat the Tax on Oregon Sales Campaign Coordinator Rebecca Tweed.
To read the online version of the Oregon general election voters’ pamphlet you can click here.
