SALEM — A coalition of groups in Oregon is preparing for what they say could be a heated campaign to approve a ballot measure granting driving privileges to people who can’t prove they are legal residents of the U.S.
Unions, immigrant-rights groups and a hospitality-industry lobby group have started pouring money...
They want voters to approve a measure...called driver’s cards, to people who don’t have documents proving they are in the country lawfully...
...opponents collected enough signatures last fall to put it before the voters on the November ballot this year....
Supporters of the measure don’t have a campaign budget....
“We are looking at a pretty spendy campaign,” said Jeff Stone, a member of the campaign’s leadership and executive director of the Oregon Association of Nurseries. “We’re going to have to raise a good deal of money.”
...Oregon’s sheriffs had not taken a position until April, when the group Sheriffs of Oregon announced that 28 of the state’s 36 sheriffs oppose the measure.
“We think that they can outspend us, but the right is on our side,” Ludwick said.
...Voters who are confused or uninformed about the measure could choose to oppose it by default.
“Getting a ‘no’ vote is a heck of a lot easier than getting a ‘yes’ vote,” Lunch said.