February 27, 2004

(Updated) Draft Ballot Titles Released For Anti-Marriage Initiatives

Compliance Of Two Initiatives Remains In Question

Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.

Today the Secretary of State released the draft ballot titles for the four initiatives filed last week which would prohibit same-sex marriage in the state of Oregon. Let's go through them one by one.

First, the initiative (number 146) filed as Defense of Marriage Amendment (pdf) was given the draft ballot title, "Amends Constitution: Recognizes Marriage Only Between One Man, One Woman; Prohibits Same Legal Status For Unmarried Individuals." This does apppear to accurately reflect the text of the initiative. It also matches the clear intent of the initiative to offer a constitutional change.

Second, the initiative (number 147) filed as Affirmation of Marriage Constitutional Amendment (pdf) was given the draft ballot title, "Amends Constitution: Specifies That Marriage In Oregon Is A Civil Contract Between One Male And One Female." This does appear to accurately reflect the text of the initiative. However, it does not match the apparent intent of the initiative to offer a statutory change.

Third, the initiative (number 148) filed as Affirmation of Marriage Act (pdf) was given the draft ballot title, "Enacts Provision Specifying That Marriage Is A Civil Contract Between One Male And One Female." This does appear to accurately reflect the text of the initiative. It also matches the clear intent of the initiative to offer a statutory change.

Fourth, the initiative (number 149) filed as Defense of Marriage Act (pdf) was given the draft ballot title, "Recognizes Marriage Only Between One Man And Woman; Prohibits Same Legal Status For Unmarried Individuals." This does appear to accurately reflect the text of the initiative. However, it does not appear to match the apparent intent of the initiative to offer a constitutional change.

As previously-reported, two of the four initiatives appear to have been misfiled.

Initiative number 147 (Affirmation Of Marriage Constitutional Amendment) was filed as a constitutional initiative, whereas its text contains a statutory change. Initiative number 149 (Defense Of Marriage Act) was filed as a statutory initiative, whereas its text contains a constitutional change.

We suggested before, and now do so again, that the above inconsistencies may be grounds to have initiatives 147 and 149 declared not to be in compliance with with initiative procedures. Now that the initiatives have received their draft ballot titles -- which clearly designate what appears to be a statutory change as a constitutional one, and what appears to be a constititional change as a statutory one -- it's time for opponents of these initiatives to file comments with the Elections Division.

Such comments are due by March 12, 2004, which is ten business days from today. Technically, comment procedures are supposed to be available for each initiative. But the links to these documents -- in this case 147 (pdf) and 149 (pdf) -- currently are inactive.

Interested parties may want to contact the Elections Divison to inquire about comment procedures and the availability of the proper forms, if any.

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