OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, October 22, 2020
East Oregonian
A7
First days of voting
in Oregon produce
large numbers
By SARA CLINE
Associated Press/
Report for America
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
A school bus sits in the parking lot of the Hermiston Christian School on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020.
Lawsuit: Possible First Amendment violation
Continued from Page A1
the introduction.
The lawyers wrote that
the state’s actions violated
the school’s First Amend-
ment right to freedom of
religion and 14th Amend-
ment right to due process.
In the complaint, the
alliance draws compar-
isons between Hermis-
ton Christian School and
Ukiah School, a public
school with similar enroll-
ment in the same county,
albeit 80 miles away. While
Ukiah was included in a list
of small and remote schools
that were allowed to reopen
for in-person instruction,
no private schools in the
county, all of them religious,
were afforded the same
opportunity.
The fi ling also lays
out a timeline of chang-
ing reopening standards,
the lawsuit alleging that the
state had advised private
schools they could reopen
in the fall before changing
course on July 29.
The school’s lawyers
argue that the governor’s
administration was moti-
vated by a fear that allowing
private schools to remain
open, while most public
schools stayed close, would
lead to major disenrollment
from the public school. One
Brown staffer allegedly said
it would cause a “mass exo-
dus” in a conference call
with administrators.
The alliance is asking
the court to not only issue a
temporary restraining order
that would allow Hermiston
Christian School to reopen,
but also grant the school
damages for the social dis-
tancing measures it installed
in its facilities and for the
potential enrollees who
decided to go elsewhere
because of the closure.
The attorneys argued
that in-person instruction
was not only essential to the
school keeping its lights on,
but also its affi liate church’s
ability to practice its faith.
“In-person education is
essential for (the school’s)
free exercise of religion,”
the complaint states. “(The
school’s) mission is to teach
its students what it means to
be a disciple of Jesus Christ,
not only through classroom
education, but also through
prayer, worship, and reli-
gious formation that occurs
in-person.”
The alliance not only
sued Brown, but also the
leaders of several state
agencies, including Oregon
State Police, Oregon Health
Authority and the Oregon
Department of Education.
All, including the governor’s
offi ce, declined to comment
or didn’t return a request for
comment.
The legal team also
sued the heads of Umatilla
County Public Health and
the Umatilla County Sher-
iff’s Offi ce. Public Health
Director
Joe
Fiumara
declined to comment, while
Sheriff Terry Rowan said he
was “shocked’’ because his
deputies were never involved
in this issue, but declined to
comment further.
Ryan Tucker, a senior
counsel for the alliance,
said they needed to include
law enforcement agencies in
the lawsuit because of their
capacity to enforce the gov-
ernor’s orders even if they
hadn’t enforced them yet.
While
the
alliance
equated Ukiah School and
Hermiston Christian School,
the pandemic has affected
each community disparately.
Umatilla County Public
Health has reported between
0-4 COVID-19 cases in the
Ukiah area, while the Herm-
iston ZIP code has more than
1,600, according to OHA.
Despite these differ-
ences, Tucker said the state
has already well established
its case that the state was
making its decision based on
religious qualifi cations.
SALEM — Ballots for
the 2020 election began to
be mailed to Oregonians last
Wednesday, Oct. 14, and so
far more than 88,000 people
have casted their vote, fol-
lowing suit with the nation-
wide early voting trends.
By comparison, at this
time during the 2016 presi-
dential election, 12,591 bal-
lots were returned in Ore-
gon. In 2012, it was less than
10,000.
The Elections Division
of the Oregon Secretary of
State released the unoffi cial
ballot returns count Mon-
day, Oct. 19. So far the divi-
sion has recorded 88,406
ballots returned.
Nearly 3 million people
are registered to vote in Ore-
gon, a 15% increase from
the 2016 election. A por-
tion of the infl ux of regis-
tered voters in the state can
be attributed to Oregon’s
Motor Voter Act in 2016,
which made voter registra-
tion automatic when Orego-
nians obtain or renew their
driver’s licenses.
So far, 3% of regis-
tered voters in Oregon
have returned their ballots,
according to the elections
division. During the last
two presidential elections,
between 80% and 82% of
registered voters in Oregon
have returned their ballots.
To no surprise, the
county with the most bal-
lots returned thus far is
Multnomah County — Ore-
gon’s most populous county.
Nearly 60,000 ballots have
been returned, which make
up 10.5% of the county’s
registered voters. At this
time in 2016, the county had
received 21,452 ballots.
The
avalanche
of
returned the ballots within
the fi rst days of voting has
been witnessed across the
country.
As of Friday, more than
22 million Americans had
already cast ballots in the
2020 election, a record-shat-
tering number of early votes.
Americans’ rush to vote
is leading election experts
to predict that a record 150
million votes may be cast
and turnout rates could be
higher than in any presiden-
tial election since 1908.
In Oregon, ballots must
be returned by 8 p.m. Elec-
tion Day, Nov. 3. Orego-
nians should expect to
receive their ballots two
to three weeks before the
elections.
According to the Uma-
tilla County Election’s
Offi ce, all local registered
voters should have received
their ballot in the mail by
Tuesday, Oct. 20. Voters
who haven’t received their
ballots by then should con-
tact the election offi ce at
541-278-6254.
There are a number of
local ballot drop-off loca-
tions throughout the county.
In addition to a bal-
lot drop box at the Uma-
tilla County Courthouse in
Pendleton, drop boxes can
be found outside of city halls
in Athena, Echo, Hermis-
ton, Pilot Rock, Stanfi eld
and Umatilla. There are
also drop boxes outside of
the Milton-Freewater Police
Department and the Nixy-
aawii Governance Center in
Mission.
Ballots are picked up
daily from these outdoor
drop-off locations and they
are available 24/7 until
8 p.m. on Nov. 3, accord-
ing to the Umatilla County
Election’s Offi ce.