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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2016
Unprecedented number of people register for Oregon primary
Voters want say
in party choices
By KRISTENA HANSEN
Associated Press
PORTLAND — A whop-
ping 111,000 Oregonians gave
themselves a voice by chang-
ing their voter registrations to
Democrat and Republican this
year ahead of the state’s presi-
dential primary.
That igure dwarfs registra-
tion change numbers during
President Barack Obama’s
2008 primary campaign more
than threefold.
The bulk of these voters —
who previously weren’t reg-
istered with either party and
wouldn’t have been able to
cast a presidential ballot this
month — made the switch
in the weeks before the April
26 primary deadline, when
excitement was building over
the state’s potentially key role
in deciding the nominees.
The data, obtained from
the Oregon Secretary of
State, suggested the May
17 event could have been a
record-breaking voter turn-
out — at least it did until this
week.
Things shifted after Tues-
day, when Donald Trump
became the presumptive
GOP nominee: He won Indi-
ana’s Republican primary and
his two opponents dropped
out of the race. Bernie Sand-
ers won the Democratic pri-
mary in Indiana, although
Hillary Clinton’s lead in del-
egates is seen as almost
insurmountable.
So for most of the dozen
remaining primaries through
June — especially in small
states like Oregon, where 102
delegates are up for grabs —
political observers say their
impact is now more symbolic
than actual.
Oregon’s primary, one of
four in the next two weeks,
could serve as a “petri dish
for a national conversation”
about the changing dynamics
of the two parties heading into
the general election, said Jim
Moore, professor and director
of the Tom McCall Center for
Policy Innovation at Paciic
University.
“Does the Republican
party begin to gather around
Donald Trump ... or are we
going to see an electorate
that’s still pretty cranky and
fractured over the Trump
candidacy?” Moore said.
“The Oregon primary on the
Democratic side is going to
continue to be that conver-
sation about where the party
needs to go, but not really
with the hope that Bernie
will be the nominee.”
How that’ll dig into the
psyche of voters, and possi-
bly change the record-break-
ing turnout many were antic-
ipating in Oregon, is unclear,
especially for the GOP.
Of the 111,000 voters who
joined the two major par-
ties this year — more than
three-quarters of whom were
previously nonafiliated —
the biggest chunk, about
84,800, went to Democrats.
Moore said they likely lean
toward Oregon’s “Bernie-ma-
nia” electorate, although it’s
less clear who they support on
the Republican side. The only
GOP poll, released last week,
showed Trump with a dou-
ble-digit lead in Oregon.
Additionally, 100,900 new
Oregon voters were added
to the rolls this year through
April — up 42 percent from
the same time in 2008, when
primary turnout was the high-
est since then 1970s — and
nearly half registered with the
two major parties, but mostly
Democrats.
Oregon Secretary of State
Jeanne Atkins estimates a new
“motor voter” law — which
automatically signs up drivers
to vote when they get a new
or renewed license — resulted
in half of those new registra-
tions. But she doubts the law
had an effect on the party
afiliation changes, which
means this year’s election is
drawing attention and interest
“like never before,” she said.
Even after Tuesday’s
damper on Oregon’s primary,
Moore said it’s still possible
voter turnout could come out
strong, at least for Sanders.
“The Republicans are
another thing because all of a
sudden the drama is gone,” he
said. “And in fact, if you go in
and vote for somebody other
than Trump it’s simply a pro-
test vote ... so we don’t have a
sense as to what that does to
Republican turnout.”
Campaigning in Oregon
is continuing, despite the
changes this week.
Bill Clinton made his sec-
ond Oregon visit on Thurs-
day — Hillary Clinton herself
has yet to do so. There was no
word from Sanders about a
fourth visit.
Trump is paying his
irst visit Friday evening in
Eugene.
“We’re still not certain
who the (Democratic) nom-
inee is going to be,” Daniels
said. “So as far as strategy
moving forward in the gen-
eral election, we’re just going
to have to see how things
unfold while also simultane-
ously planning for what we
expect to happen.”
Faster response needed to minimize salmon die-offs
By KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — Northwest
isheries managers must respond
faster to reduce ish kills of
sockeye salmon in the Columbia
River Basin if warm-water con-
ditions return, a draft report tak-
ing a hard look at last summer’s
massive die-off says.
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric
Administra-
tion report released late last
month describes conditions
and assesses actions of isher-
ies managers in a year when 90
percent of the 510,000 sockeye
salmon that entered the Colum-
bia died.
Endangered Snake River
sockeye perished at an even
greater rate, with only about 1
percent of the estimated 4,000
ish returning from the Paciic
Ocean surviving the 900-mile
journey to central Idaho.
“We need to be faster,”
NOAA’s Ritchie Graves said.
“There was too much talking
and not enough action and
experimentation.”
In 2015 a rare combination
of an extended heat wave coin-
cided with low lows in rivers to
push water temperatures above
70 degrees, conditions that had
not occurred in the basin since at
least the 1950s and can be lethal
for cold-water sockeye.
“Should similar events occur
frequently, the impact on sock-
eye salmon populations in the
Pot shops to
sell recreational
edibles, extracts
Associated Press
EUGENE — Recreational
marijuana users will be able to
purchase more than just lowers
next month.
The Register-Guard reported
that starting June 2, medical
marijuana dispensaries will
be able to sell low-dose edi-
bles and extracts to recreational
customers.
The edible products are
already available to medical
marijuana cardholders in vary-
ing dosages. For recreational
users, edibles will have to con-
tain no more than 15 milli-
grams of THC and extracts can
have up to 1,000 milligrams of
the psychoactive chemical in
marijuana.
Dispensary operators say 15
milligrams for a single brownie
or cookie is a very low dose.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Two sockeye salmon swim in the Columbia River with
a Chinook salmon, middle, at the Bonneville Dam
fish-counting window near North Bonneville, Wash. A
draft report released in April taking a hard look at last
summer’s massive die-off of sockeye salmon in the Co-
lumbia River Basin says Northwest fisheries managers
must respond faster to mitigate future fish kills if similar
warm-water conditions return.
Columbia River basin could be
substantial,” the report says.
The draft report lists nine
actions isheries managers could
do to recognize earlier when
a massive die-off is looming
and some actions to potentially
reduce the die-off.
Among the recommenda-
tions is making changes to get
real-time reporting of tempera-
tures in ish ladders at dams
to provide an early warning.
Graves said he’d be surprised if
that change isn’t accomplished
in the next two years.
The report also said drawing
cold water from deep in reser-
voirs to use in ish ladders could
help keep ish moving upstream.
That was a problem last year
when warm water in some
ish ladders caused migrating
salmon to stall.
The report says that in 2016 a
new, permanent intake structure
at Lower Granite Dam will draw
water from 60 feet deep and
give managers a greater ability
to keep water cool.
Much of the report deals with
the Snake River where manag-
ers have more ability to control
water temperature by releas-
ing cold water from Dworshak
Dam.
“Honestly, there are not a lot
of things you can do to man-
age temperatures in the lower
Columbia River,” Graves said.
The report notes that last
year faulty temperature read-
ings caused managers to reduce
cold-water releases from Dwor-
shak Dam just when Snake
River sockeye needed it most.
The mistake went unnoticed
for about a week, and by then
managers were moving forward
with the capture and transport of
Snake River sockeye to a ish
hatchery.
But managers say 90 percent
of Snake River sockeye died
before even reaching the Snake
River. “It deinitely didn’t help,
but I don’t think it was a sig-
niicant factor in the loss,” said
Russ Kiefer of the Idaho Depart-
ment of Fish and Game.
The report notes that one of
the quandaries facing manag-
ers is the downstream transport-
ing by barge of juvenile Snake
River sockeye. In 2015, the
report said, transported ish with
poorer homing skills spent more
time in the river. That proved
lethal, and none of the return-
ing adults survived the journey
upstream to Lower Granite Dam
on the Snake River.
However, barging juvenile
ish downstream is intended
to boost the number of return-
ing adult Snake River sockeye,
an endeavor isheries manag-
ers say they are now having to
reconsider.
The 58-page report is being
reviewed by federal and state
managers as well as tribes, with
comments from those entities
being incorporated into a inal
report expected early this sum-
mer ahead of this year’s sock-
eye run.
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