Daily Archive
Stories Posted on July 9, 2008
Petitions Slide Through Legal Loophole
Category: Bill Sizemore · State: Oregon · Source: The Oregonian
A coalition of labor groups says it has found evidence of widespread use of illegal practices to gather signatures for several conservative initiatives aimed for the November general election ballot. But the practices in question, including the use of carbon paper to duplicate printed names and addresses on multiple signature sheets for different initiatives, were not illegal until Jan. 1, when a new law governing Oregon's initiative system went into effect. The signature sheets examined by the labor coalition were all dated before Jan. 1. As a result, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who has scheduled a news conference on the subject today, has concluded that no action can be taken against the petition sponsors.