Just in case anybody is interested here's how I voted on the important stuff---President: Are you kidding?
U.S. Senator: There are lots of reasons to despise sometimes-moderate Gordon Smith but in my own estimation Gordo showed he was unfit for office years ago when he voted to impeach President Clinton over a peccadillo. I proudly voted for Jeff Merkley.
A couple of ballot intititives I support---
Measure 54: (Voter Eligibility) Fixes a portion of the Oregon Constitution that says voters need to be 21-years old and pass a literacy test. We'll have no literate voters here.
Measure 56: (Kills Double Majority) I've hated the double majority measure which voters put in place in 1996. Essentially it's one of those deals where over 50% of registered voters have to vote for any property tax to pass, regardless of whether it pulls a majority of votes. 1) Non-voters shouldn't get as much of a say as actual voters and 2) Vote by mail has made the original arguments for the double majority obsolete.
A measure I was sympathetic to but voted against---
Measure 65: (Open Primaries) The measure opens primaries up to all registered voters regardless of primaries with the top two vote-getters going to the general. This was a tough one but I do think this opens the primaries up to a lot of mischief that will hurt moderate-leftists more than those on the other side. I would like to see instant runoff voting instead. Having said all that I can see why progressives are voting for the measure, I'm just worried about the consequences.
Most of the other measures are the typical anti-state government nonsense that wind up on the ballot every election. Every state seems to have a resident loon who makes a living getting these things on the ballot. In Oregon that loon is Bill Sizemore. I will never vote for a Bill Sizemore inititive. He makes that declaration easy by throwing the worst sort of crap on our ballots.
No on measures 57,58,59,60,61,62,63 and 64.
Happy election everybody!
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