Greater Idaho, Oregon, countywide ballot measures (2020-2024)

In eastern Oregon, voters in 13 counties have approved ballot measures regarding seceding from the state and joining neighboring Idaho between 2020 and 2024. Supporters refer to this effort as Greater Idaho.

Since 2020, there have been 17 countywide ballot measures on Greater Idaho in Oregon.

• Voters approved ballot measures in 13 counties — Baker, Crook, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Union, Wallowa, and Wheeler

• Voters rejected ballot measures in two counties — Douglas and Josephine.

• In Wallowa County, voters rejected a measure in 2020 before approving a measure in 2023.

Changing the state boundaries of Oregon and Idaho would require approval from the U.S. Congress and state legislatures of Oregon and Idaho, per the U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 10, and Article IV, Section 3.

Overview

What do the voter-approved ballot measures require?

The ballot measures themselves cannot cause counties to join Idaho. Rather, the ballot measures were written as non-binding questions or as ordinances requiring Boards of Commissioners to hold meetings on Greater Idaho or advocate for moving the state's borders.

Mike McCarter, a spokesman for the organization Move Oregon's Border, said, said, "Our approach is to go county by county rather than a state initiative. We want people [in the counties that would move to Idaho] to chime in and say, ‘Yes, we want this.’"

What are the arguments surrounding the ballot measures?

Matt McCaw, a spokesman for the Greater Idaho Movement, said, "Eastern Oregon is culturally, politically, economically much more similar to Idaho than it is to western Oregon. Our movement is about self-determination and matching people to government that they want and that matches their values. In Oregon, we’ve had this urban-rural divide for a very long time." Mark Simmons (R), the former Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives (2001-2003), said, "Idaho would have the satisfaction of freeing rural, conservative communities from progressive blue-state law. We are dismayed by the manner in which Oregon’s government has marginalized our values and villainized our resource-based livelihoods."

Gov. Tina Kotek (D) said, "I think there are a lot of Oregonians who are frustrated and don’t feel heard. That, I think, is what the movement is about. I want to be partners across the border. We have things that we will solve together and I’m hoping through dialogue and conversation, we can address frustrations and concerns and move forward as one state." Shelley Wyllie, a member of Oregon Together in Grant County, said, "[T]he Greater Idaho movement has kind of descended in with a solution that has appealed to certain people. And I think they have not given much thought to the consequences of what that would mean for their families, their lifestyle in this part of Oregon and what Oregon actually provides for them."

Can counties in Oregon secede from the state and join Idaho?

Changing the state boundaries between Oregon and Idaho would require the consent of the Oregon State Legislature, the Idaho State Legislature, and the U.S. Congress.

In 2023, Oregon Sen. Dennis Linthicum (R-28) introduced Senate Joint Memorial 2 (SJM 2), which did not receive a vote. SJM 2 would have resolved that "eastern Oregonians have begun to see Oregon government as a threat to the livelihoods, liberties and values of their communities" and that legislators were "ready to begin discussions regarding the potential to relocate the Oregon/Idaho border." In Idaho, the House of Representatives passed a memorial in February 2023 that said, "the Idaho Legislature stands ready to begin discussions with the Oregon Legislature regarding the potential to relocate the Oregon/Idaho state boundary, in accordance with the will of the citizens of eastern Oregon, and we invite the Oregon Legislature to begin talks on this topic with the Idaho Legislature." The Senate did not vote on the memorial.

List of countywide ballot measures

The following is a list of countywide ballot measures related to Greater Idaho:

County	Year	Measure	Outcome	Yes (Votes)	No (Votes)	Yes (%)	No (%)
Douglas	2020	Measure 10-180	d	26,981	35,297	43.32%	56.68%
Jefferson	2020	Measure 16-96	a	5,757	5,553	50.90%	49.10%
Union	2020	Measure 31-101	a	7,435	6,753	52.40%	47.60%
Wallowa	2020	Measure 32-003	d	2,478	2,519	49.59%	50.41%
Baker	2021	Measure 1-104	a	3,346	2,474	57.49%	42.51%
Grant	2021	Measure 12-77	a	1,471	896	62.15%	37.85%
Harney	2021	Measure 13-18	a	1,583	921	63.22%	36.78%
Lake	2021	Measure 19-35	a	1,510	513	74.64%	25.36%
Malheur	2021	Measure 23-64	a	3,059	2,592	54.13%	45.87%
Sherman	2021	Measure 28-46	a	430	260	62.32%	37.68%
Douglas	2022	Measure 10-185	d	16,791	18,659	47.37%	52.63%
Josephine	2022	Measure 17-106	d	13,619	14,344	48.70%	51.30%
Klamath	2022	Measure 18-121	a	9,649	7,278	57.00%	43.00%
Morrow	2022	Measure 25-88	a	2,386	1,546	60.68%	39.32%
Wheeler	2022	Measure 35-29	a	472	334	58.56%	41.44%
Wallowa	2023	Measure 32-007	a	1,752	1,745	50.10%	49.90%
Crook	2024	Measure 7-86	a	5,149	4,493	53.40%	46.60%

In 2024, there was also a ballot measure, Measure 23-74, to repeal the meetings requirement in Malheur County, Oregon, which voters approved in 2021. Voters rejected Measure 23-74.

Background

Changes to the state's borders in 1958

As of 2024, the last time that Oregon's borders were changed was in 1958. In 1957, Oregon and Washington drafted an interstate compact called the Oregon-Washington Columbia River Boundary Compact. Congress approved the compact. Both states also needed to amend their state constitutions to adjust the boundaries. Voters approved SJR 10 in Washington. In Oregon, voters approved Measure 1 on the same election date — November 4, 1958.

See also

• Local ballot measures, Oregon
• Oregon 2022 local ballot measures
• Oregon 2023 local ballot measures
• Oregon 2024 local ballot measures