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Keizerite headed to observe Swiss election
Written by Jason Cox News, Top Stories Jun 11, 2010
Ross Day
By JASON COX
Of the Keizertimes
A local political activist’s name has apparently gotten around.
Ross Day, executive director of Common Sense for Oregon and a Keizertimes columnist, headed off to Switzerland at their government’s invitation this week to observe their elections on June 13.
Some heavy hitters will be on the trip with Day, including John Fund, a Wall Street Journal columnist and a senior editor for The American Spectator.
Common Sense for Oregon is a conservative-leaning nonprofit that champions the initiative and referendum system along with free-market economic principles.
Day, an attorney, has been going to court promoting the initiative system for years. And he noted Switzerland was the first “modern democracy … to actually include an initiative and referendum provision” system in its constitution. Oregon was the second state in the union to allow citizen initiatives and referendums, doing so in 1902.
And if you’ve ever opened your ballot and lamented the sheer number of measures on the ballot? Don’t get Swiss citizenship. Day’s research indicated a 2007 election there which had 23 federal measures, six local and nine at the canton level. Canton is the Swiss equivalent of a U.S. state.
He called the phenomenon “ballot fatigue.
“I’m anxious to see what allows them to avoid ballot fatigue – is it cultural, or the way they are presented?” Day said. “What is it that (allows the Swiss to) avoid ballot fatigue that seems to be a problem here in Oregon?”
Day has been working in the area of initiative and referendum law for a decade now, which he says may have brought his name to the Swiss government’s attention. Day recently filed an amicus brief in Doe v. Reed, a Washington case before the U.S. Supreme Court which could clarify whether petition signers’ names could be available under public records requests.
Day, who owns a firm which circulates petitions for ballot measures and initiatives, said he wants to see how the Swiss go about circulating petitions, getting ideas for how electronic petitions could be used and how technology advances affect voting generally. He noted Switzerland has been experimenting with electronic voting for years, even through cell phone text messaging.
He called e-petitions “for lack of a better term, the most pure form of circulating petitions. The idea is that you’re going door-to-door, neighbor-to-neighbor, getting petitions. Being able to e-mail those petitions out as opposed to having paid circulators is probably the most akin to going door-to-door.”
He’ll also watch ballot counting in Bern, spend time in Zurich and meet with petitioners themselves.
“Direct democracy means something entirely different there,” Day said. “The sense I get, at least from my studies, is that it’s a little more valued in that the culture believes, ‘We’ve got this. We’ve got to protect it, so we better use it.’”
And even though, he said, most initiatives and referenda fail in Switzerland, “Apparently the Swiss enjoy having the final say.”
The trip is hosted by the Initiatives and Referendums Institute of Europe. The six-day trip won’t allow for too much sight-seeing, he said, but plans to “enjoy just soaking up the culture.
“And my wife is unbelievably jealous.”
Newberg Graphic: Judge delays ruling in Grum vs. Newberg
Government — Lawsuit by local man charges that the city wrongfully turned down his initiative petitions
- By: Amanda Newman
- Published: 5/26/2010 12:00:00 PM
There was no ruling Monday in Hank Grum’s lawsuit against the city of Newberg, when the parties involved gave their oral arguments in Yamhill County Circuit Court.
After Ross Day, representing the plaintiff, and Tom Sponsler, representing the city, gave their best arguments, Judge Cynthia Easterday said she wanted to take the case under advisement, a legal term for deliberation. She did not say when a ruling could be expected.
Grum submitted five similar initiative petition proposals to the city last year, each proposing a referendum system for increased city taxes, fees and charges. All five were rejected. Elections officer Dawn Wilson said they violated the one-subject rule in the Oregon Constitution and did not qualify as municipal legislation.
In December, Common Sense for Oregon, an Oregon advocacy group that fights what it sees as challenges to Oregon’s initiative and referendum system, filed a lawsuit against the city on Grum’s behalf. Wilson was also named in the suit.
In court Monday, Day, executive director of Common Sense for Oregon, insisted that the proposed initiatives did meet the one-subject rule. The subject was referring revenue increasing methods, he said, and the fact that taxes, fees and charges are all addressed does not affect that.
Day pointed to state legislation, such as last year’s Transportation Act and Measure 67, approved by voters in January, which include both tax and fee increases. “If legislation which addresses taxes, fees and charges violates the single-subject rule, then (that legislation) also violates the rule,” he said. “The single-subject test is not a high hurdle to climb, it isn’t, but the city wants to think that it is.”
On the claim that the proposed initiative was not the proper subject of municipal legislation, Day argued that the initiative wouldn’t reverse any city council decisions or restrict council authority.
There might be political reasons to not allow the petition, he said, but those should be saved for an election campaign.
Sponsler, who helped craft the League of Oregon Cities’ model charter on which Newberg’s charter is based, cited several of the same cases, but said, “We have a very different way of looking at the argument.”
He maintained that there are “many more than one subject in the proposed petition,” citing the taxes, fees and charges addressed as well as the fact that the petition would affect different sections of the city charter. As the petition is retroactive, potentially affecting decisions back to Jan. 1, 2009, it could affect four fees or charges already in place, he said.
“The legal implications of this are unclear and unknown — and probably unknowable in advance,” he said. He also pointed out that some sections of the initiative would be unworkable, such as a clause referring to putting revenue increases to a vote of the people within 30 days. Elections cannot be held at that short notice, he said.
“I think Mr. Day confuses the legal authority voters have when it comes to city charters,” Sponsler continued. Voters and the council have the same legislative authority, he said, but only the council has administrative authority.
Day later countered that fees and charges are only administrative changes because “that’s how the city has deemed them.”
Sponsler’s final argument came as a surprise to Day and Easterday. The proposed petition would amend six sections of the charter and add 1,025 words, he said — about one-third of the size of the whole existing charter. That, he said, made it a revision rather than an amendment … and state process does not allow for voter revisions of city charters.
Day raised an objection, saying that issue had not been raised in his talks with the city or in the city’s legal brief. Easterday said she, too, had not seen the argument before.
But after the three conferred, they agreed that the point was nearly moot. If Easterday finds that the petition addresses multiple subjects, that’s nearly the same as finding it to be a revision … but Grum will be out either way. If she finds that the petition does meet the one-subject rule, it won’t be considered a revision.
Easterday said she wanted to take the case under advisement to have time to read through the various cases cited by both sides.
Common Sense For Oregon Aids In School For Blind Victory
Salem, OR- Today, Common Sense For Oregon Executive Director and General Counsel, Ross Day congratulated the students and parents of the Oregon School for the Blind for their victory with the passage of House Bill 3867. The measure, signed into law today by Governor Kulongoski, reverses a mistake made by the 2009 Oregon Legislature which closed the Oregon School for the Blind without leaving the students and families with a viable educational option for former School for the Blind students.
“I am proud today that Common Sense For Oregon was able to help these families achieve justice and fairness for their children,” said Ross Day, “these families already face a number of challenges, I am glad this is one challenge where common sense, both literally and figuratively, prevailed.”
After the 2009 Oregon Legislature voted to close the Oregon School for the Blind, Common Sense For Oregon met with the families of School for the Blind students. Out of those meetings, Common Sense For Oregon created and funded a strategy that involved filing suit against the state of Oregon to stop the sale of the School for the Blind property and representing students and families in Individual Education Plan (IEP) proceedings.
House Bill 3867 requires half of the money from the sale from the Oregon School for the Blind to be used for the benefit of the Oregon School for the Deaf, the other half of the proceeds must be used to benefit visually impaired students. The original plan approved by the 2009 Legislature would have simply deposited all of the proceeds from the sale of the School for the Blind into the state’s general fund, where visually impaired students would be denied virtually any benefit from the sale of the property.
Common Sense For Oregon hired an attorney to challenge the sale of the property where the Oregon School for the Blind property is located. As a part of the settlement of the suit, the parties agreed that the lawsuit would be dropped if House Bill 3867 was signed into law.
“I want to thank the families for trusting Common Sense For Oregon to fight for common sense on their behalf, and our attorney Tyler Smith for doing such a great job in achieving this result,” said Day.
Electronic canvasser offers Oregon petitions without the pitch
By Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian
March 01, 2010, 7:48PM
Some day, we may see a robot chase a voter down the sidewalk, clutching a clipboard in its metal talons, as it chirps, “Sign this if you want to cut your taxes.”
For now, however, we have “Petey,” an ATM-style kiosk that may be the country’s first electronic canvasser.
Ross Day, a conservative political activist who also runs the petition firm Vote Oregon, developed Petey — short for “petitioner” — and proudly showed off the prototype outside his Beaverton office Tuesday.
Day, who got the idea when he saw the kiosk’s shell at a state government surplus sale, says he thinks robo-canvassers will eventually replace those ubiquitous initiative petitioners you see outside stores and at festivals.
“Obviously it’s cheaper,” Day says. “I don’t have to pay Petey, other than the power. … It also goes to the integrity of the process. Petey — at least I hope not — is not going to be forging any signatures or committing any other kind of fraud.”
Passers-by can use a touch screen to see the text of the three petitions Day’s firm is now circulating. And they can print out a copy of any of the petitions and then sign and deposit it in the attached mailbox.
The device takes advantage of a 2007 law that lets voters download a single-signature petition from the Internet and mail it back to sponsors. Before that, only signatures on petition sheets also signed by a canvasser were valid.
Ted Blaszak, president of Democracy Resources, which petitions for liberal causes, says the idea sounds both “interesting and gimmicky.” He wonders how many voters will sign a petition without talking it over with a real person.
“People are reluctant to sign away any information for something they are not very confident about, and a machine doesn’t really address this,” he said.
Still, online petitioning has started to pick up steam. Day, whose firm collected signatures to refer the tax measures to the Jan. 26 ballot, says that several thousand came from downloaded petitions.
Day says he hopes to build five or six more machines that he will move around the state, including in stores where merchants allow them.
Eventually, Petey will become more sophisticated, he says. Maybe, for example, it could show a short video touting the initiative. But he’s a long way from being able to send his new invention after a reluctant signer while it pleads, “Don’t you care about the children?”
Officials hope online registration will attract more voters
The new system will use data from the DMV to give residents the option of using their computer
By David Steves
The Register-Guard
SALEM — Starting Monday, Oregonians can dispense with the paperwork and go online to register as new voters or update their current voter status.
The state Elections Division’s launch of the new system means Oregon is the fourth state to give residents the option of registering as voters online. Three other states will follow suit this year and two more are developing their procedures.
Secretary of State Kate Brown, who is overseeing the online registration program, said the new system should help reduce barriers to voting and increase participation in elections.
“Making it simpler and more efficient to register to vote is a strategy to do that,” she said.
The state will keep in place all its current options for people who want to register or update their voter information. They include picking up forms at various public offices or filling out a form online and printing it out. Either way, the forms must be delivered by hand or mail to state or county elections offices.
Don Hamilton, an Elections Division spokesman, said the new system will give people the option of submitting the information over the Internet for the first time. It’s available to anyone who is in the state Driver and Motor Vehicle Services system — either because they have a driver’s license, a DMV-issued identification card or a learner’s permit. That’s necessary because it allows the Elections Division to verify voter signatures, which are on file with the DMV.
Hamilton said it takes less than five minutes to fill out the online form required to register as a voter or for current voters to update their party affiliation or address.
A training session Thursday on the new system drew about three dozen people, mostly from political parties and political activism organizations. One participant, Henry Kraemer from the Bus Project, said he hoped it would make it easier for people to become voters.
“This platform is going to open it up to a lot of young folks who are harder to get to otherwise,” said Kraemer, the activist group’s political director. “In other states we’ve seen that it’s increased registration by thousands of people.”
Washington Bus, a sister organization in Oregon’s northern neighbor, has a link to its state’s online voter registration system on its own Web site, but continues to reach out to potential voters in person at festivals, campuses and other events. Kraemer said the Oregon Bus Project will do the same.
The 2009 Legislature authorized Oregon’s online voter-registration system. Hamilton said it would save elections offices staff time because they will no longer need to input information from those who register through the Internet.
The state’s launch of its online voter registration system isn’t the only development to advance the role of the Internet in allowing Oregonians to get involved with the political process. A conservative political organization, Common Sense for Oregon, plans to announce today what its news release called “a new electronic initiative and referendum petition system, including a first-of-its-kind electronic petition kiosk system.”
The 2007 Legislature approved the use of electronic petitions. They were used in last year’s signature drive to place Measures 66 and 67 on the January ballot.
Unlike the state’s voter registration system, these “E-petitions” must be printed out, signed with what elections officials call a “wet signature” and turned in to the state Elections division in paper format.
Ross Day, the founder of Common Sense for Oregon, said his group had two innovations it hoped to ramp up the role of electronic petitions. One is to e-mail to potential supporters of its causes petition sheets that are “postage paid” and another is the completion of the first touch-screen kiosks. The prototype will be on display at today’s news conference in Beaverton and again at next month’s Dorchester Conference that Republicans hold annually in Seaside.
Day said he hopes that 12 such kiosks will be placed in businesses where customers can print and sign petitions and place them in a nearby dropbox.
“The biggest challenge is going to be the same as for voter registration: it’s new and people may not trust it at first,” he said.
