OREGON PUTS ITS STAMP ON ELECTIONS

Vote-by-mail Is Law As Measure 60 Passes, While Financing For Parks
And Salmon Efforts Is Leading

In a historic vote that marked the end of the polling place, Oregonians
left no doubt Tuesday: They prefer vote-by-mail.
Voters approved Measure 60, which extends vote-by-mail balloting to all
elections, and made Oregon the first state in the nation to conduct all
elections by mail.

"It's about time the measure passed," said Jeremy Wright, who headed
the Measure 60 campaign. "People have been working on this for years.
We're going to win big tonight."

The vote-by-mail victory came as Phil Keisling, secretary of state,
estimated turnout would hit an Oregon record low of 55 percent.
Supporters say the convenience of voting at home will boost turnout.
Those who received absentee ballots for Tuesday's election were twice
as likely to vote as those who had to go to polling places.

A proposal to guarantee state parks and wildlife habitat programs 15
percent of state lottery profits won handily. Measure 66, which would
raise about $45 million a year for parks and salmon restoration
projects, had little opposition. Some educators didn't like the idea
because it cuts into money that otherwise would go to finance schools.

Patricia McCaig of Friends of Parks and Salmon, which supported
Measure 66, had been concerned that low voter turnout would hurt the
measure's chances.

Measures that would legalize marijuana for medical use and open
adoption records won. Proposals to recriminalize marijuana and ban
clear-cutting lost, with clear-cutting going down by a 4-to-1 ratio.

There were 14 measures on Tuesday's ballot, but none of them incited
the great passion and debate seen in recent years when voters
considered property tax limitations, gay rights and doctor-assisted
suicide.

There was one trend that seemed to hold true for the main measures:
The side that spent the most money won. The most expensive race on
the ballot, Measure 59, was losing, according to partial returns. The
measure, sponsored by tax activist and Republican candidate for
governor Bill Sizemore, would prohibit public employee unions from
using payroll deductions to collect money for political activity. The
unions spent about $5 million to defeat the measure and promote one
that would offset Sizemores proposal.

"We believe that once the education of the public took place, the
numbers started heading our way, said Roger Gray, who headed the
unions effort to defeat Measure 59. A poll taken in early September
showed Measure 59 with a healthy lead, but its popularity sank as
unions bombarded the airwaves with No on 59 ads. Sizemore said he
isn't conceding defeat and thinks that a mountain of uncounted
absentee ballots might propel Measure 59 to victory. If not, hell try
again.

"If Measure 59 doesn't pass this time, we will vote on it or a similar
measure in 2000, Sizemore said. The unions answer to Sizemore, Measure
62, was winning by a 2-to-1 ratio. Billed as a campaign finance reform
measure, it included a provision that guaranteed unions the right to
use payroll deductions to gather political contributions. Critics
claim Measure 62 will not survive a legal challenge because it makes
substantial changes to more than one part of the Oregon
Constitution.

Votes on Measure 61, a property crimes initiative, will not be
tallied. The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the state Elections
Division erred by giving Measure 61 the benefit of the doubt when it
came up short in a statistical sampling used to verify signatures. The
decision came after ballots were printed, so Keisling ordered county
clerks not to count votes -- a first in Oregon history.

Of all the measures, vote-by-mail was the closest to a sure winner.
Polls routinely show that about 70 percent of voters support the
measure. Almost half the voters in Tuesdays election were registered
to vote by absentee ballot. Oregon uses mail-in ballots in local and
special state elections. Measure 60 extends the practice to include
primary and general elections held in even-numbered years. Oregon
began experimenting with vote-by-mail in the early 1980s.

"Oregon voters clearly like it and are very comfortable with it and
believe it makes sense for all elections, said Keisling, an ardent
vote-by-mail advocate.

The clear-cutting ban, Measure 64, was on the skids from the
beginning. The proposal by a hard-working band of environmentalists
would have prohibited clear-cutting and the use of herbicides and
pesticides in Oregon forests. Timber companies argued that the measure
was too extreme, would have dire economic consequences and would limit
how they could manage timberland.

Environmentalists said Measure 64s defeat will not derail their
efforts to stop clear-cutting. They might return with another ballot
measure in two years.

"The industry made it clear that they will do what it takes to stop a
ban on clear-cutting, but we changed the nature of the dialog and
people are beginning to look at how to do sustainable forestry, said
Gary Kutcher of Oregonians for Labor Intensive Forest Economics, which
backed the clear-cutting measure.

The measures opponents expected to win big but said they will closely
watch the margin of victory to gauge the publics feelings on
clear-cutting.

"Its reasonable to suspect that there will be further discussion about
this, said Pat McCormick, a spokesman for the Healthy Forests
Alliance, a coalition organized to try to defeat the measure. Timber
interests spent more than $3 million on a well-produced series of ads
that focused on the measures effect on families, jobs and the
environmental consequences of barring chemicals from the forest.

Despite pleas from medical marijuana opponents, including three former
U.S. presidents and the Clinton administration, voters approved
Measure 67. Supporters see medical marijuana as a compassionate way to
help ease the pain of people with debilitating or fatal diseases. Some
doctors think more testing is needed, and law enforcement officials
say the measure will make it harder to prosecute marijuana cases and
increase recreational drug use.

Voters in Washington, Alaska and Nevada also approved legalizing
marijuana for medicinal purposes. Meanwhile, Measure 57, which would
recriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, lost big.
Partial returns showed two-thirds of voters were against the proposal.
Opponents said that making possession a crime would result in
increased court costs but wouldn't stop people from using the drug.
Measure 57s backers contend that marijuana is a gateway drug that
leads to use of other illegal substances. They say stronger penalties
are needed to deter its use.

Measure 58 would allow people 21 and older who were adopted in Oregon
to obtain a copy of their original birth certificates. Oregon would
become the fourth state to approve such a law. The measure drew
national interest because its the first time voters have decided the
issue.

Measure 65, which creates a new system for challenging rules adopted
by state agencies, was losing in a tight race.

Another winner was Measure 63, a public employee union proposal that
will make it harder to impose supermajority requirements on ballot
measures.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry