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Letter: 'Driver card' ballot title should be left alone

StatesmanJournal.com
Letter

Gov. Kitzhaber and Reps. Tina Kotek, D-Portland, Jessica Vega Pederson, D-Portland, and Vic Gilliam, R-Silverton, don’t seem to trust voters.

More than 70,000 Oregonians signed a Referendum 301 signature sheet that would place the issue of granting state-issued ID (in the form of a driver privilege card) to those who can’t prove legal presence in the country before voters in November 2014. Now some legislators want to pass legislation to rewrite the ballot title.

Oregonians should contact their legislators and tell them to reject tampering (call it obfuscation) of the current ballot title, which succinctly reveals the consequences of the legislation if it becomes a state law: “Provides Oregon resident ‘driver card’ without requiring proof of legal presence in the United States.”

Members of the Legislature, in fairness to the state’s voters, should stay out of the way. Let the state court have the final say on the ballot title.

Cynthia Kendoll

Salem