Oregon Public Broadcasting

Northwest initiative backers have less than a month left to collect enough signatures to get their measures on the November ballot.

The deadline in Washington and Oregon is July 3rd. So what measures are likely to make the ballot? Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins has this preview.

In Washington, former Governor Booth Gardner is expected to get his Oregon-style Death with Dignity measure qualified. It would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to terminally ill patients with less than six months to live.

Washington voters may also get a chance to vote on another Tim Eyman initiative.

The conservative ballot measure guru has mortgaged his house in the name of I-985. It would dedicate a percentage of vehicle sale tax dollars to congestion relief projects.

In Oregon, three initiatives have already qualified for the ballot and several more have a chance.

One measure that’s already qualified would enact mandatory minimum sentences for crimes like theft.

Even though they’re called citizen initiatives, in most cases it takes paid signature gatherers to get an initiative on the ballot.