4A
MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019
The Observer
OUR VIEW
Looking to
improve
turnout
State Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, believes
Oregonians would be better served if they could
register to vote right up through Election Day. The
change, he argues, would improve voter turnout, and
that’s not a bad thing.
The state constitution requires would-be voters
to have registered “not less than 20 days” before the
next election. They also must live in Oregon for the
six months preceding the election, and Hass does not
propose changing the residency requirement.
But, as Hass notes, the 20-day requirement may
have made sense when it was enacted in 1986. The
era of modern technology had not yet taken hold,
and county clerks favored the Ballot Measure 13
that established the 20-day registration cutoff.
Voters agreed, though elected offi cials, the League
of Women Voters and other groups all opposed it,
arguing that the registration deadline would reduce
voter participation in elections because fewer people
would be eligible to vote. A Bulletin editorial about
the measure noted that in 1986, some 71,000 voters
registered in the 20 days before the general election,
and in 1980, more than 100,000 registered in that
same time period.
Supporters of the measure argued the deadline
would cut fraud and save money, and the measure
passed handily.
Yet, Hass is correct in noting that technology has
advanced so much since 1986 that it no longer takes
20 days to verify that those who have registered are,
in fact, entitled to vote. He would let voters decide
the matter, and, assuming they approved the change,
he would charge the secretary of state with estab-
lishing what documentation to use to establish voter
eligibility.
Hass wants to be his party’s candidate for secre-
tary of state in 2020, and he no doubt sees changing
the registration deadline as something that voters
will favor. But he’s also likely right in his belief that
same-day registration will get more Oregonians to
the polls. It’s a change worth trying.
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La Grande, Ore., 97850.
MY VOICE
New economic catalysts boost
Eastern Oregon counties
It’s often said “the only constant in
life is change.”
Recent visits to new economic cata-
lysts growing in Grant and Umatilla
counties have shown me how both
communities have embraced that adage
to build on their traditional strengths
to generate good-paying jobs in Eastern
Oregon.
Lots of rural Oregon faces real
economic hurt, which is why I wrote the
Secure Rural Schools legislation that’s
brought more than $3 billion over the
years to those communities for schools,
roads and public safety.
But earlier this month at Malheur
Lumber just outside John Day, I also
saw new shoots of economic success
when I toured the new Restoration
Fuels site. This plant taps innovative
technology to take the biomass of small
trees and convert it — via a process
called torrefaction — into a non-fossil
fuel energy source.
The technology is astounding. And
so is the economic opportunity — I
heard fi rsthand from plant offi cials
how they’re hiring people in this rural
Oregon town at family-wage salaries.
These developments are a credit to
farsighted leaders at Malheur Lumber,
such as company owner John Shelk,
who’s committed to maintaining the
sawmill in John Day. I was proud to
team with Malheur Lumber, Iron
Triangle and the forest collaborative to
push for a 10-year stewardship contract
that increased timber harvest and a
steady, certain supply of biomass.
This forest restoration work isn’t
easy. It requires folks working together
to fi nd common ground, and it required
local industry partners like Malheur
Lumber, Oregon Torrefaction and Iron
Triangle to develop new markets for
forest products that used to burn up in
slash piles bigger than semi-trucks.
And I’m working to get even more
biomass to support family-wage jobs by
About the author
Ron Wyden is the
senior U.S. senator
for the state of
Oregon.
My Voice columns
should be 500-
700 words. Submissions should
include a portrait-type photograph
of the author. Authors also
should include their full name,
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organizational memberships.
We edit submissions for brevity,
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La Grande Observer, 1406 5th St.,
La Grande 97850, fax them to 541-
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lagrandeobserver.com.
pressing the administration for even
more fuels reduction and thinning on
the national forests.
This torrefaction project in Grant
County and the people behind it have
shown the entire country all that can
be accomplished with biomass — and
provided a valuable job-creating model
to learn from.
A similar good-news Eastern Oregon
economic story is playing out up U.S.
395 in Umatilla County.
This summer, I toured the Pendleton
Airport hangar where the aerospace
company PAE ISR has set up shop to
work on unmanned aerial vehicles.
As at Malheur Lumber, the new
technology developed by PAE ISR —
and the jobs they support in Eastern
Oregon — are impressive. In Pendleton,
I met with PAE ISR workers earning
six-fi gure salaries. And I met PAE ISR
manager Ken Bisconer, who’s pas-
sionate about creating new education
programs so young people have the
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A division of
skills and training to work in this well-
paid fi eld.
UAV technology is hugely exciting for
Eastern Oregon. I’m a privacy hawk,
but I think we can thread the needle
and support UAV technology for civilian
uses like mountaintop rescue, precision
agriculture, fi ghting wildfi res and more
without sacrifi cing privacy protections.
And just as in Grant County with
biomass, these changes in Pendleton
didn’t happen by osmosis. They’re
a credit to local visionaries such as
Pendleton Mayor John Turner, Uma-
tilla County Commissioner George
Murdock, Pendleton Economic De-
velopment/Airport Manager Steve
Chrisman, and Oregon National Guard
Colonel Alan Gronewald.
Pendleton and Eastern Oregon can
take justifi able pride in carving out
a big part in the core of a growing
industry that pays well and creates a
whirlwind of fresh economic activity.
I see my job representing Oregon as
setting the temperature for fresh new
enterprises to grow in rural Oregon.
And I’m honored to have partnered
with local offi cials to ensure new
enterprises such as UAV test ranges
could develop in Pendleton as well as in
Warm Springs and Tillamook. We have
extended operation of these test ranges
through 2023, and I will keep fi ghting
for these proven job generators.
Of course, there’s no single solution to
ensuring the rural Oregon economy can
fl ourish.
But I believe these positive examples
of smart change in Grant and Umatilla
counties are signifi cant shoots of suc-
cess that should be celebrated. These
examples — along with support for
historic rural Oregon enterprises, such
as agriculture, ranching and forestry, as
well as new opportunities in areas like
recreation and hemp — can continue
creating new good-paying jobs for gen-
erations to come.
541-963-3161
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