News

Lawmakers should leave driver-card ballot title alone: Editorial

OregonLive.com
Op-ed

 ....Some lawmakers want this outcome so badly, however, that they may be willing to do the wrong thing.

A group that includes House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, may try to rewrite the referendum’s ballot title, a breathtakingly cynical move that would taint the very law they’re trying to preserve. ...

....Ballots will contain supplemental information, including a summary of the measure and the effects of “yes” and “no” votes, but the ballot title is the first thing most will read – and in some cases the last.

Opponents of the law are right to be furious, and supporters should be....

Lawmakers may be tempted to believe their manipulation will be forgotten long before ballots go out this fall. That would be a mistake. Voters will remember because driver-card opponents, not being foolish, will see that they do. And in this regard, at least, their anger will be justified.