Jeff my very unofficial input is that the PNW has become the new blue wall. As more progressives have moved North to Oregon and Washington they have completely cancelled out any conservative votes that are left. Unfortunately I don’t think Oregon will ever go back. If we thought fiscal irresponsibility and corruption was bad before buckle up, it’s about to get much worse.
Blue wall, good point Shayne. In military parlance, once an army achieves a goal, establishes a front, it will be defended to the last man. I see the blue walls on the East and West coasts in that light, the left will defend those blue states to the death. Another blue wall at play is demonstrated in the 1998 Voters Pamphlet. Take note of what organizations and individuals supported measure 60 vote by mail.
Yep..imagine I will move out of state once I no longer need to be in Portland for work. My house will probably sell to a far left refugee from a purple or red state…further skewing the voting tendencies here to the far left.
As my late friend El Rushbo sometimes exclaimed "you are about to swerve into the truth". Vote by mail (VBM) and automatic voter registration (AVR) are avenues, no, super hi ways, to voter fraud. For every illegal vote cast a legal voter is deprived of their constitutional right. You are correct Mr. Eager, evidence is difficult, time consuming (and expensive) to obtain. Purposely so. The explosion of un-verifiable signatures in this election, 10,000 in Clackamas County 11,000 in Multnomah County, can maybe be blamed on the DMV signature pad process, though I have been contacted by voters that have not performed a DMV transaction that had their signatures questioned. Oregon VBM has failed all the objectives it was sold to the public: fast results, security, less expensive. The one promise it excelled at is convenience. Any function that promises convenience also promises intrusion by bad actors, take your debit and credit cards and identity as an example. Oregon has piqued the interest of outside watch dog organizations, Judicial Watch is suing because of bloated and inaccurate voter rolls. The Federalist on November 22nd published the article "Oregon DMV Busted Allowing People Of Unknown Citizenship To Register To Vote". 54,600 in number per documents obtained. Oregon is seeing growth of overseas E-Mail ballots arriving at County Election offices also. No possibility of maleficence in a program like that. Oregons' VBM is a literal Swiss cheese operation, mostly holes and little substance. Thanks for broaching this topic Mr. Eager, few 'journalists' will touch it. There is a lot of 'there, there' if a person is willing to look.
An explanation of what happens when a ballot has signature problems and whether and how those signature problems can be cured and counted would be helpful. I take it from the they can be cured and counted at least in some instances, but the details of how that works seem important.
Yes, challenged ballots can be cured. In a close race like 22, both sides often try to contact voters whose ballots are challenged to get them to go to clerk's office to sign and clear up signature issues. This is a tough ask, as you might imagine.
more to the point, how do we revitalize the Republican Party in Oregon? I know why Greg Walden gave up, pretty simple, pack Hood River with the rich thrillseekers that found a nice place to ruin. More big money. and the Donald just stole one of our rising stars.
James, I agree that revitalizing the Oregon Republican Party is crucial.
If the "rising star" you're referring to is Ms. Chavez-DeRemer, I'm not all that sure she belongs in that category, given her voting record. She might have been relatively harmless as a Representative in Congress, but I really don't think, based on her record, she should be Secretary of Labor.
It's my view that the only reason Ms. Chavez-DeRemer was elected to Congress in 2022 was that she ran against the execrable Jamie McLeod Skinner, whose persona was too much even for the Blues of Deschutes County. Jeff Eager may want to weigh in on this, and I'm always happy to be corrected.
You're right about Hood River. It's the third most left-wing county in the state, right behind Benton, which is a poor second after Multnomah. Fortunately, we no longer have that riff-raff in the Second District.
At least she was the only one to get elected west of the cascades. if she can help the Donnie clean the stables, more power to her. given the magnitude of the job, we need a lot more than one Hercules.
The bulk of current NAV registrants were registered by the Oregon automatic motor voter system. Before it started in 2016, there were 527,000 NAVs in Oregon. Now there are 1,106,000 NAVs. That system relies on the person's signature on file at DMV, which can be decades old. Also, it appears that DMV scans signatures in a tiny format. Perhaps that makes signature matching more difficult.
Good points, Dan. Presumably someone newly registered to vote via motor voter will have a relatively recent (post-2016) signature on file, even if it's small/digital.
It's obvious that any by-mail system is extremely vulnerable to manipulation and gaming. Bundling plays into the hands of organized nonprofits, especially those with racial/ethnic ties. No one (me included) really understands how signatures are evaluated--is it a bunch of elderly part-timers sitting around with magnifying glasses? If it's computerized, watch out!
It could be that the high level of challenged NAV signatures is a symptom of some form of hanky-panky. Given the nation's long history of voting shenanigans, anything is possible--and probable.
It’s a shame Oregon (or any State for that matter) doesn’t have an Electoral College of sorts to at least provide some measure of equity for those of us in the conservative hinterlands. We’re merely subjects of the Democrat Kingdom.
Well, we're trying here in Crook and Harney counties (where I live). We might have a better chance with the Congress as presently constituted. Now, if the Oregon Legislature will just let us go!
I mention Christine Drazen because it’s the only race I followed closely. I think she represented timid positioning on abortion and other issues that if she had been more forthright she would have won. I remember her saying no one from out of state could come to Oregon for an abortion. That’s a position that worried many independents and pro choice Republicans. I’m from California where Republicans have made themselves irrelevant by being too doctrinaire
Oregon’s politics annoy me more than Washington’s. I have seen data that suggests over 125,000 Republican voters sit on the sidelines in each election. That apathy pisses me off.
if true, we have a real problem. have they given up? or do they need a compelling reason to reactivate? nothing is going to change until we stand up to incompetent bureaucrats.
Oregon super majority is Republican’s fault. A perfect example is the way Christine Drazen pissed away a victory to a very weak Democrat because she was too doctrinaire
Jeff my very unofficial input is that the PNW has become the new blue wall. As more progressives have moved North to Oregon and Washington they have completely cancelled out any conservative votes that are left. Unfortunately I don’t think Oregon will ever go back. If we thought fiscal irresponsibility and corruption was bad before buckle up, it’s about to get much worse.
Blue wall, good point Shayne. In military parlance, once an army achieves a goal, establishes a front, it will be defended to the last man. I see the blue walls on the East and West coasts in that light, the left will defend those blue states to the death. Another blue wall at play is demonstrated in the 1998 Voters Pamphlet. Take note of what organizations and individuals supported measure 60 vote by mail.
Yep..imagine I will move out of state once I no longer need to be in Portland for work. My house will probably sell to a far left refugee from a purple or red state…further skewing the voting tendencies here to the far left.
As my late friend El Rushbo sometimes exclaimed "you are about to swerve into the truth". Vote by mail (VBM) and automatic voter registration (AVR) are avenues, no, super hi ways, to voter fraud. For every illegal vote cast a legal voter is deprived of their constitutional right. You are correct Mr. Eager, evidence is difficult, time consuming (and expensive) to obtain. Purposely so. The explosion of un-verifiable signatures in this election, 10,000 in Clackamas County 11,000 in Multnomah County, can maybe be blamed on the DMV signature pad process, though I have been contacted by voters that have not performed a DMV transaction that had their signatures questioned. Oregon VBM has failed all the objectives it was sold to the public: fast results, security, less expensive. The one promise it excelled at is convenience. Any function that promises convenience also promises intrusion by bad actors, take your debit and credit cards and identity as an example. Oregon has piqued the interest of outside watch dog organizations, Judicial Watch is suing because of bloated and inaccurate voter rolls. The Federalist on November 22nd published the article "Oregon DMV Busted Allowing People Of Unknown Citizenship To Register To Vote". 54,600 in number per documents obtained. Oregon is seeing growth of overseas E-Mail ballots arriving at County Election offices also. No possibility of maleficence in a program like that. Oregons' VBM is a literal Swiss cheese operation, mostly holes and little substance. Thanks for broaching this topic Mr. Eager, few 'journalists' will touch it. There is a lot of 'there, there' if a person is willing to look.
I think you can say it, Jeff. SOMEthing else is going on.
Great article
Thanks, Julia!
An explanation of what happens when a ballot has signature problems and whether and how those signature problems can be cured and counted would be helpful. I take it from the they can be cured and counted at least in some instances, but the details of how that works seem important.
Yes, challenged ballots can be cured. In a close race like 22, both sides often try to contact voters whose ballots are challenged to get them to go to clerk's office to sign and clear up signature issues. This is a tough ask, as you might imagine.
Thanks. Couldn't that same process be used by Republicans to determine whether fraud has taken place?
Yes, people could contact voters with challenged ballots to inquire about citizenship, ballot harvesting practices, etc.
more to the point, how do we revitalize the Republican Party in Oregon? I know why Greg Walden gave up, pretty simple, pack Hood River with the rich thrillseekers that found a nice place to ruin. More big money. and the Donald just stole one of our rising stars.
James, I agree that revitalizing the Oregon Republican Party is crucial.
If the "rising star" you're referring to is Ms. Chavez-DeRemer, I'm not all that sure she belongs in that category, given her voting record. She might have been relatively harmless as a Representative in Congress, but I really don't think, based on her record, she should be Secretary of Labor.
It's my view that the only reason Ms. Chavez-DeRemer was elected to Congress in 2022 was that she ran against the execrable Jamie McLeod Skinner, whose persona was too much even for the Blues of Deschutes County. Jeff Eager may want to weigh in on this, and I'm always happy to be corrected.
You're right about Hood River. It's the third most left-wing county in the state, right behind Benton, which is a poor second after Multnomah. Fortunately, we no longer have that riff-raff in the Second District.
Best,
Mike
At least she was the only one to get elected west of the cascades. if she can help the Donnie clean the stables, more power to her. given the magnitude of the job, we need a lot more than one Hercules.
The bulk of current NAV registrants were registered by the Oregon automatic motor voter system. Before it started in 2016, there were 527,000 NAVs in Oregon. Now there are 1,106,000 NAVs. That system relies on the person's signature on file at DMV, which can be decades old. Also, it appears that DMV scans signatures in a tiny format. Perhaps that makes signature matching more difficult.
Good points, Dan. Presumably someone newly registered to vote via motor voter will have a relatively recent (post-2016) signature on file, even if it's small/digital.
I believe I smell Tuesday's fish at Friday's market
Jeff...
Outstanding.
It's obvious that any by-mail system is extremely vulnerable to manipulation and gaming. Bundling plays into the hands of organized nonprofits, especially those with racial/ethnic ties. No one (me included) really understands how signatures are evaluated--is it a bunch of elderly part-timers sitting around with magnifying glasses? If it's computerized, watch out!
It could be that the high level of challenged NAV signatures is a symptom of some form of hanky-panky. Given the nation's long history of voting shenanigans, anything is possible--and probable.
It’s a shame Oregon (or any State for that matter) doesn’t have an Electoral College of sorts to at least provide some measure of equity for those of us in the conservative hinterlands. We’re merely subjects of the Democrat Kingdom.
"everybody" says annexing to Idaho is VERY difficult, but that's no reason not to TRY!
Well, we're trying here in Crook and Harney counties (where I live). We might have a better chance with the Congress as presently constituted. Now, if the Oregon Legislature will just let us go!
I mention Christine Drazen because it’s the only race I followed closely. I think she represented timid positioning on abortion and other issues that if she had been more forthright she would have won. I remember her saying no one from out of state could come to Oregon for an abortion. That’s a position that worried many independents and pro choice Republicans. I’m from California where Republicans have made themselves irrelevant by being too doctrinaire
Oregon’s politics annoy me more than Washington’s. I have seen data that suggests over 125,000 Republican voters sit on the sidelines in each election. That apathy pisses me off.
if true, we have a real problem. have they given up? or do they need a compelling reason to reactivate? nothing is going to change until we stand up to incompetent bureaucrats.
Oregon super majority is Republican’s fault. A perfect example is the way Christine Drazen pissed away a victory to a very weak Democrat because she was too doctrinaire
Care to elaborate on who lost and when?