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Oregon Independent State and Congressional Redistricting Commission Initiative (2020)
| Oregon Independent State and Congressional Redistricting Commission Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Redistricting measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Oregon Independent State and Congressional Redistricting Commission Initiative was not on the ballot in Oregon as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.
Multiple versions of the measure were filed: #57, #58, and #59. All of the measures would have amended the Oregon Constitution to establish a 12-member redistricting commission.
The redistricting commission would have used criteria enacted by the amendment to map state and congressional districts every ten years. The drafted map would have had to:[1][2]
- Complied with United States Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act;
- Aimed for an equal population in each jurisdiction according to the last census;
- Contained a contiguous geographic area;
- Minimized division of cities, counties, and neighborhoods; and
- Used adopted metrics of competitiveness.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The certified ballot title for the initiative was as follows:
| “ | Amends Constitution: Creates congressional redistricting commission; equal number of Democrats, Republicans, others[3] | ” |
Full text
- See also: Article IV, Oregon Constitution
The measure would have repealed sections 6 and 7 of Article IV of the state constitution. Petitioners filed three different versions of the amendment. The full text of the initiative is below:
Support
People Not Politicians led the campaign in support of the initiative.[4]
Supporters
- Common Cause Oregon[5]
- League of Women Voters of Oregon[6]
- Oregon Farm Bureau[7]
- Taxpayer Association of Oregon[8]
Arguments
- Common Cause Oregon wrote in a press release, "Partisan mapmakers manipulate voting lines to protect their incumbents from challengers. Sometimes deals are negotiated with the opposing party, but party power overrides community interests – leaving voters with little chance of meaningful competition or choice."[5]
Opposition
If you are aware of any opponents or opposing arguments, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.
Opponents
Background
Redistricting in Oregon
- See also: Redistricting in Oregon
At the time of election, congressional and state legislative district lines weredrawn by the state legislature. District lines were subject to veto by the governor.[10]
If the legislature failed to establish a redistricting plan for state legislative districts, it fell to the secretary of state to draw the boundaries.[10]
State legislative redistricting by state
- See also: State-by-state redistricting procedures
In 34 of the 50 states, state legislatures play the dominant role in state legislative redistricting. Commissions draw state legislative district lines in 14 states. In two states, hybrid systems are used, in which state legislature share redistricting authority with commissions. See the map and table below for further details.[11][12][13]
Congressional redistricting by state
- See also: State-by-state redistricting procedures
Most states are required to draw new congressional district lines every 10 years following completion of United States Census (those states comprising one congressional district are not required to redistrict). In 33 of these states, state legislatures play the dominant role in congressional redistricting. In nine states, commissions draw congressional district lines. In two states, hybrid systems are used, in which the legislatures share redistricting authority with commissions. The remaining states comprise one congressional district each, rendering redistricting unnecessary. See the map and table below for further details.[11][12]
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Oregon, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 8 percent of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Signatures for Oregon initiatives must be submitted four months prior to the next regular general election. State law also requires paid signature gatherers to submit any signatures they gather every month.
Moreover, Oregon is one of several states that require a certain number of signatures to accompany an initiative petition application. The signatures of at least 1,000 electors are required to trigger a review by state officials, a period of public commentary, and the drafting of a ballot title. Prior to gathering these initial 1,000 signatures, petitioners must submit the text of the measure, a form disclosing their planned use of paid circulators, and a form designating up to three chief petitioners.
The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2020 ballot:
- Signatures: 149,360 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was July 2, 2020.
In Oregon, signatures are verified using a random sample method. If a first round of signatures is submitted at least 165 days before an election and contains raw, unverified signatures at least equal to the minimum requirement, but verification shows that not enough of the submitted signatures are valid, additional signatures can be submitted prior to the final deadline.
The original deadline was July 2, 2020. Due to the ruling in People Not Politicians v. Clarno, the deadline was extended to August 17, 2020, and the signature threshold was lowered to 58,789 valid signatures.[14]
Details about this initiative
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| Coronavirus pandemic |
| Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more.
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- C. Norman Turrill and Sharon K. Waterman filed the initiative on November 12, 2019.[2]
- Petitioners filed two additional versions of the petition, Initiative #58 and Initiative #59, on November 13, 2019.[2]
- On April 9, 2020, the three versions of the initiative were approved to circulate.[2]
- On May 13, 2020, People Not Politicians announced that it would begin gathering signatures through e-petitions that would be printed, signed, and mailed back to the campaign.[15]
- People Not Politicians did not submit signatures by the original July 2 deadline.[2]
- On July 13, 2020, People Not Politicians submitted 64,172 unverified signatures to the Oregon Secretary of State. The campaign submitted an additional 1,819 signatures on July 17 and 1,063 signatures on July 24 for a total of 67,054 unverified signatures. On July 30, 2020, the state completed the signature verification process and determined that 59,493 valid signatures had been submitted. The required number of signatures under the court order issued on July 10 was 58,789 valid signatures. The signature validity rate for the petition was 88.7 percent.[2]
People Not Politicians v. Clarno
- On June 30, 2020, People Not Politicians filed a lawsuit against Oregon Secretary of State Bev Clarno (R) seeking relief from the signature deadline and requirements. The lawsuit said, "Oregon's pre-Pandemic signature count requirement and submission deadline as applied to People Not Politicians during the Pandemic and related public health orders, impose a severe burden on the Plaintiffs' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by making it nearly impossible to place the initiative on the ballot." The campaign had previously requested that the secretary of state extend the deadline to August 17 and reduce the number of required signatures to the 2018 minimum for veto referendum petitions of 58,789 signatures.[14]
- On July 9, 2020, Our Oregon filed a motion to intervene and oppose People Not Politician's motion. Becca Uherbelau, executive director of Our Oregon, wrote in a sworn declaration that "[a]llowing the Chief Petitioners to submit after the constitutional deadline (and at a lower threshold) would make it exponentially more difficult for Our Oregon, or anyone else, to organize an opposition campaign to IP 57. It takes months to build and fund a coalition in opposition to a ballot measure."[16]
- On July 10, 2020, Judge Michael McShane ruled that Secretary of State Clarno had until 5 p.m. on Monday, July 13 to decide whether to place the measure on the ballot or lower the threshold to 58,789 signatures and extend the signature deadline to August 17. Secretary Clarno decided to extend the deadline and lower the threshold. On behalf of Secretary Clarno, the Oregon Department of Justice wrote, "The Secretary objects to the Court's ruling and its order that she select among remedies as inappropriate and inconsistent with the United States Constitution as well as the principles of federalism and equity that counsel federal courts to avoid ordering states to revise their election processes at the eleventh hour before an election."[17][18]
- On July 15, 2020, the Oregon Department of Justice filed an emergency stay on Judge McShane's order with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a statement regarding the emergency stay, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (D) said, "Whether a federal judge can rewrite the state constitution‘s procedures for constitutional amendments is a question that goes to the heart of the state’s power to create its own laws. ... Any final decision made in this case could have long reaching impacts for the state and on future ballot initiatives."[19]
- On July 23, 2020, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Oregon's request for an emergency stay on Judge McShane's order that extended the deadline to August 17 and lowered the required number of signatures. The court did not rule on Rosenblum's appeal of the lower court's decision.[20]
- On July 29, 2020, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (D) filed an emergency stay with the U.S. Supreme Court against Judge McShane's July 10 ruling. Rosenblum wrote, "Changing the rules for initiatives by judicial fiat, this late in the election cycle only for one privileged measure, is legally unsupportable and fundamentally unfair."[21]
- On August 11, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Oregon Attorney General an emergency stay on the lower court's ruling that lowered the signature requirements for the initiative. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor voted to deny the emergency stay.[22]
- On September 1, 2020, a panel for the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals released their 2-1 decision that effectively keeps the initiative from qualifying for the ballot. The panel said: "The practical effect of the stay is that even if we affirm the district court’s injunction, the Supreme Court is not likely to lift the stay until after the Sept. 3 deadline to place the initiative on the November 2020 ballot, likely rendering this action moot as to this election cycle." Judges Mary Murguia and Johnnie Rawlinson were in the majority, and Judge Ryan Nelson dissented. Norman Turrill, a chief petitioner for the initiative, said, "People Not Politicians has run an extraordinary campaign under unprecedented circumstances of a public health pandemic. More importantly, tens of thousands of Oregonians have raised their hands to say that they want a redistricting process that puts people, not politicians, in charge of drawing district lines. We will pursue our case at the District Court and continue our efforts to ensure an impartial and open redistricting for Oregonians."[23]
See also
External links
Support |
OppositionSubmit links to editor@ballotpedia.org. |
Footnotes
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Complete Text of Initiative #57," accessed November 13, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Oregon Secretary of State, "Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division Initiative, Referendum, and Referral Search for 2020," accessed November 13, 2019
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ People Not Politicians, "Home," accessed May 18, 2020
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Common Cause, "People – Not Politicians – Should Draw Voting Maps in Oregon," November 12, 2019
- ↑ League of Women Voters of Oregon, "Redistricting in Oregon," accessed November 14, 2019
- ↑ Bend Bulletin, "Diverse group of Oregon political interests wants to take redistricting out of Legislature’s hands," November 18, 2019
- ↑ Salem Reporter, "Why does a diverse group of Oregon’s political interests want to take redistricting out of the legislature’s hands?" November 18, 2019
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Oregon Live, "Oregon redistricting campaign hopes huge mailing will help initiative qualify for November ballot," June 10, 2020
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 All About Redistricting, "Oregon," accessed April 28, 2015
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 All About Redistricting, "National Summary," accessed July 29, 2024
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 The American Redistricting Project, "State," accessed July 29, 2024
- ↑ NCSL, "Redistricting Commissions: State Legislative Plans," December 10, 2021
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Willamette Week, "Redistricting Measure Aimed at November Ballot Falls Short. Backers File Federal Lawsuit Asking for Lower Bar." July 3, 2020
- ↑ People Not Politicians, "People Not Politicians launches safe statewide signature gathering effort on ballot measure to reform Oregon’s redistricting process," May 13, 2020
- ↑ Freedom Foundation, "Complaint Regarding Violations of Election Law – Our Oregon – Case No. 20-021," July 10, 2020
- ↑ Oregon Public Radio, "Oregon Redistricting Measure May Go To Voters After Judge's Ruling," July 10, 2020
- ↑ Willamette Week, "Under Federal Judge’s Order, Secretary of State Bev Clarno Extends Deadline for Redistricting Measure," July 14, 2020
- ↑ Seattle Times, "Oregon AG appeals federal judge’s order on redistricting bid," July 15, 2020
- ↑ Portland Tribune, "Advocates get more time to qualify redistricting initiative at lower threshold," July 23, 2020
- ↑ Oregon Public Radio, "Oregon attorney general takes fight against redistricting initiative to US Supreme Court," July 29, 2020
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, Clarno v. People Not Politicians, August 11, 2020
- ↑ Mail Tribune, "Redistricting commission plan stays off Oregon's Nov. 3 ballot," September 2, 2020
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