Federal Court Upholds Oregon Initiative Law
Oregon elections officials are praising a federal court ruling Wednesday that upholds a sweeping 2007 overhaul of the initiative petition process. But opponents of the law say they'll appeal the decision. A federal judge in Eugene dismissed claims that the initiative law infringes on free speech rights. Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown said the ruling bolsters efforts to combat fraud in the citizen's initiative process. The measure bans people convicted of certain crimes from getting paid to gather signatures. It also requires petition sponsors to submit payroll records to prove they're not paying signature gatherers based on the number of names they collect. Ross Day of the group Common Sense For Oregon filed the lawsuit. He claims the law puts an undue burden on initiative petitioners. “The effort here has been to make it nearly impossible to put a measure on the ballot. And they've placed restriction after restriction on the initiative process in order to frustrate people," he said. Day says he'll appeal the ruling to the U.S. Circuit Court.
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