Oregon Secretary of State

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The Oregon Secretary of State is an elected constitutional officer within the executive branch of government and is first in line of succession to the governor. The duties of secretary of state are: auditor of public accounts, chief elections officer, and administrator of public records. Additionally, the secretary of state serves on the Oregon State Land Board and chairs the Oregon Sustainability Board.

Due to the secretary of state's involvement with the Elections Division, the position oversees key aspects of the initiative & referendum process.

The current officeholder is Kate Brown.

Role in the initiative process

Filing an initiative

In order to file a prospective initiative with the Elections Division one must submit:

  • A statement of sponsorship
  • A statement of organization for the chief petitioner
  • Proposed ballot language
  • A prospective petition/referendum measure form (SEL 310)
  • A completed statement of One or More/No Petition Circulators will be paid.

The secretary of state will then forward these documents to the attorney general for preparation of a draft ballot title. The documents are also sent to the Legislative Assembly, any "interested parties" listed by the sponsors, chief petitioners and Capital Media.

At this point the initiative is opened up to comments whether the initiative will comply with procedural requirements of the Oregon Constitution. The secretary of state will review comments made by the sign a statement indicating that the initiative does or does not comply with he procedural constitutional requirements. This statement can be repealed in court.

The state attorney general will then draft a ballot title. The Elections Division then prepares a notice containing the certified ballot title which is distributed to all pertinent parties.

Circulation approval

Before the petition may begin to be circulated the Elections division must review it form compliance with cover and sheet requirements. The division will also check that the ballot language has not been changed on the actual petition. They will then issue a written notice detailing any corrections or send approval to the chief petitioners.

Signature Verification Process

Once circulators have collected the minimum required amount of signatures, they may submit the to the Elections Division along with a new SEL 301 form marking the initiative as completed. Also include:

  • Signatures must be sorted by county
  • Number each stack of sorted sheets beginning with the number 1 for each county.
  • A letter from the Chief Petitioner detailing how many signatures the sponsors purport to have
  • The Chief Petitioners committee treasurer's detailed contribution and expenditure report

If they so wish, members of the public and the chief petitioners may make arrangements to witness the signature verification process as long as they are made prior to the meeting.

Signatures are verified through a 2 phase process. If the elections division and the County Elections official find the first sample of signatures to be valid, the a remainder of the signatures are checked.

If the ballot has enough valid signatures to qualify, the secretary of state will assign a measure number to the petition.

Lawsuits

Bill Bradbury, Oregon Secretary of State is currently defending in Lemons v. Bradbury the decision his office made declaring the insuffiency of signatures submitted on Oregon Ballot Measure 303 (2008), a veto referendum seeking to overturn an act of the Oregon State Legislature authorizing domestic partnerships.

In Prete v. Bradbury, the office prevailed against plaintiffs seeking to overturn Oregon's prohibition on paying petitioners per signature collected.

Divisions

  • Archives Division maintains the official records of Oregon government, provides public access to them, and publishes the Oregon Blue Book and the Oregon Administrative Rules. Established in 1947, the division is located in the Cecil L. Edwards Archives Building in downtown Salem on the capitol mall.
  • Audits Division provides oversight of public spending. The department began in 1929 and oversees state agency compliance with accounting rules, reports on the performance of state departments, and oversees the standards for audits of local governments within Oregon, among other tasks.
  • Corporations Division administers business filings, including corporation and other business and organization formation, and those related to the Uniform Commercial Code. They are also in charge of operating the notaries public system.
  • Elections Division performs administrative and oversight duties with respect to elections in concert with the County governments, maintains a central voter registry, and publishes the Voters' Pamphlet. These duties include working with the referendum, initiative, and recall process and accepting the registration of candidates for elective office.
  • Executive Division oversees the other four divisions of the office. The Secretary of State's office is located in the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.

Contact information

Oregon Secretary of State
136 State Capitol
Salem OR 97301
Phone: 503-986-1523
Fax: 503-986-1616
oregon.sos@state.or.us

See also

External links

References

Portions of this article were taken from Wikipedia.

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