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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1996)
i MONDAY: Opinion TUESDAY: Politics WEDNESDAY: Election Coverage TMJRSDAY: Election Coverage FRIDAY: Opinion 1996 election news and results BY MAIL: P O Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 BY PHONE: (541)346-5511 BY E-MAIL: ode@oregon. uoregon. edu IN PERSON: Suite 300, EMU Preliminary ballot measure results 26 as of 5 p.m. Wednesday YES: 423,467 63% NO: 245.395 37% 27 31 32 33 34 YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: 176,323 27% 474,569 73% 360,456 55% 297,211 45% 169,987 26% 481,940 74% 358,238 55% 296,592 45% 294,586 43% 383,421 57% 308,677 46% 364,203 54% 308,110 47% 345,011 53% 288,046 42% 390,436 58% NO 35 36 37 41 42 43 44 YES 45 46 47 SPLIT YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: YES: NO: 221,767 35% 409,195 65% 383.157 56% 304,100 44% 278.157 40% 410,426 60% 239,297 35% 436,982 65% 289,964 44% 368,274 56% 378,165 56% 293,256 44% 212.568 33% 438,563 67% 226,388 66% 443.568 34% 277,500 44% 357,468 56% 380,654 55% 307,872 45% 215,897 32% 455,232 68% 74,799 11% 604,177 89% 340,691 50% 342,789 50% 48 yes NO: 293,847 45% 353,148 55% NO mmm Vote-by-mail gains Kitzhaber’s support By Bob Baum The Associated Press PORTLAND (AP) — With more than a half-million absentee ballots to be count ed, Election Day has turned into Election Week in Oregon. As a U.S. Senate seat and a pivotal mea sure to limit property taxes hung in the balance, election workers on Tuesday te diously began hand-counting absentee bal lots submitted, mostly by mail, over the past three weeks. In many of the state’s 36 counties, it will be Friday before all the votes are counted. The messy, slow process is adding fuel to the drive for legislation that would make all elections in Oregon exclusively by mail. "To me, this is a senseless way to run an election,” said Secretary of State Phil Keis ling, Oregon’s top elections official and a chief proponent of vote-by-mail. “You have maximum confusion for voters and election workers.” If this had been a totally mail-in elec tion, “by 10 p.m. ... we would have had 90 to 95 percent of the votes counted,” Keisling said. Gov. John Kitzhaber, who vetoed a bill to expand vote-by-mail to all elections last year, grudgingly admitted that Tuesday’s outcome suggests he reconsider his stand. “It’s clear that a growing number of Ore gonians want to vote that way and we have kind of a hybrid system right now,” he said. “As much as I enjoy going to the vot ing booth, I think that clearly voting by mail is the direction the state is moving.” Given another chance, Kitzhaber said, he probably would sign a bill to make all elections by mail, with certain conditions. Backers believe vote-by-mail boosts vot er participation. The turnout among Ore gon’s 1.9 million registered voters could fall below 65 percent, Keisling said. That would make it one of the lowest turnouts for a presidential election in Oregon since statistics first were recorded in 1960. In 1981, Oregon became the first state to authorize vote-by-mail in statewide elec tions, but the law requires the traditional polling booth method be used for primary and general elections. However, voters can request absentee ballots up to three weeks be fore Election Day, and just under half of the es timated 1.2 million who voted Tuesday chose that method. State law requires waiting until polls are closed before absen tee ballots are tallied, and many county election officials didn’t even begin tabulat ing the mail-in votes until Tuesday. The bill that would have conducted all elections by mail was passed in the final hours of the 1995 legislative session, but Kitzhaber vetoed it, saying the bill had been rammed through at the last minute without a proper discussion. His biggest concern now, he said, is the three-week period between the time bal lots are mailed to voters and the deadline for their return to the counties. That allows people to vote before the full campaign is played out. “I’ve indicated that if we can narrow the time frame between the times ballots are mailed out and the election date to seven to 10 days, I would probably sign such a bill,” Kitzhaber said. State Senate Majority Leader Brady Adams, R-Grants Pass, who figures to move up to Senate president next year, re mains opposed to using vote-by-mail ex clusively, although he believes some changes could be made to speed the count ing. “That’s technology. That’s solvable,” Adams said. "But my feeling is what’s wrong with a system that allows people to go to a polling place if they want to or to vote from their home if they want to. I don’t find a persuasive argument that it has to be either or.” Keisling said an estimated $1.5 million in taxpayer money would have been saved if this had been a vote-by-mail election. In Marion County, which includes the capital city of Salem, two-thirds of the bal lots were sent in absentee. County Clerk A1 Davidson estimates his office could have saved 75 cents to $1 for each ballot if the election had been entirely by mail. As it is now, he said, clerks are having to run two parallel elections, one for the polling booth and the other for absentee. “I firmly believe that if we don’t see something come out of the ’97 legislative session, we’ll see an initiative in the '98 election that would make all elections vote-by-mail, and it will pass overwhelm ingly,” Davidson said. The clerks’ unabashed preference for mail-in elections has led to behind-the scenes rumbling that the counting is pur posely slow to push the state toward total mail-in balloting. "That accusation is offensive,” Keisling said. "It’s ridiculous. The clerks have been handed just a dreadful situation. The Lane County clerk got two hours of sleep last night. They are working overtime.” Bottle bill proponents say they will keep fighting The Associated Press PORTLAND — Bitter over the big-spending opposition to their failed ballot measure, lead ers of the move to expand Ore gon’s landmark bottle bill are vowing to take their case to the Legislature. “We’re not going anywhere,” Campaign DirectorChris Taylor said. “We have a coalition that’s 450 groups strong. We’re the real Oregonians in this thing. We’re going to be pushing for this come January.” Measure 37, which would have expanded Oregon's bottle and can deposit law to cover bottled water and non-carbon ated beverages, such as Snapple and fruit juices, had the support of a big majority in polls taken several months ago. But it failed in Tuesday’s election after the beverage, su permarket and packaging in dustries spent more than $3 million to defeat it. With 43 percent of the precincts reporting, the vote was 402,212, or 60 percent, against the measure, compared with 272,969, or 40 percent, in favor. "We’re real pleased that Ore gon voters got the message that Measure 37 was confusing and complicated and would cost grocers across the state a lot of money and would undermine our recycling program,” said Gail Dundas, spokeswoman for Oregonians Against Measure 37. Taylor said the arguments put forward in the anti-37 ad vertising blitz were untrue, but that proponents didn't have the money to counter that high priced message. Backers of the measure were outspent by about 10-to-l. ‘"Distortion, dollars and de ceit equal defeat,’” Taylor said. “That’s a Tom McCall quote, and it’s on the money tonight. ” McCall, the late Oregon gov ernor, was a prime force behind the state’s passage of the first mandatory bottle and can de posit law in 1971. That law ap plied only to soda pop and beer. McCall’s widow, Audrey, was a chief petitioner of Mea sure 37. The measure also was supported by Gov. John Kitzhaber and both candidates forU.S. Senate. But the support was no match for the big money of the oppo nents, Taylor said. “It’s certainly disappointing to see that out-of-state interests can come in here and spend $3 million and convince people that water flows uphill,” Taylor said. “Lying can be very persua sive. With $3 million and no concern for the truth, you can convince people about any thing.” Dundas argued that her group’s accurate message, not the money that paid for it, made the difference. “We found that once Orego nians were informed about the confusion Measure 37 would cause and the complications and the changes it would bring to the bottle bill, they were just well-informed voters, and they’ve made their decision,” she said. Measure 37 would have broadened the law to include water bottles up to two liters in size and non-carbonated drinks, other than water, from six ounces to one liter. Taylor, environmental advo cate for the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, said the campaign shows a need to do something to limit out-of state spending on ballot mea sures. “The No on 37 campaign was clearly driven by focus groups, PR firms and media consul tants,” Taylor said. “We’re quite proud of the fact that ours was a classic grassroots initiative.” Measure requiring industry toxin reports passes by wide margin The Associated Press EUGENE An initiative to require city businesses to re port their use of toxic and hazardous chemicals each year was firmly approved by voters Tuesday. With 35 percent of the vote counted early Wednesday, the measure was passing 16,465 to 11,205. 7measure requires larger businesses in Eugene to keep a list of all the chemicals they manufacture, use, dispose of, transport or release. Proponents wanted people to know what chemicals are Jeing used in their community. Opponents called the mea sure unnecessary because businesses already must report their chemical use to federal, state and local government agencies. The initiative affects only manufacturers that employ at least 10 people and generate more than 2,640 pounds of chemicals per year.
