2008 General Election Results

You probably don’t need us to tell you who was elected President, but we thought you might want to know what happened to the different ballot measures we were tracking. Here’s a rundown of the ballot measures we were following and how Oregonians voted on them, based on the results reported by the Oregon Elections Division.

Measure 57 victorious – Mannix’s 61 goes down!

If you haven’t figured it out already from other stories on our website, Partnership for Safety and Justice’s campaign for Measure 57 and against Measure 61 was successful.

No on 61 - Kevin Mannix’s Measure 61 would have created new mandatory minimum sentences for drug and property crimes. Had it passed, the measure would have meant 4,000 – 6,000 new prisoners within 3 years and would have meant over $1.3 billion in new prison construction. Oregonians rejected Mannix’s tough-on-crime approach, and 51.12% of voters said “no” to this measure (48.88% voted yes).

Voters said “yes” to treatment and a smarter approach to public safety by passing Measure 57 with 61.38% of the vote (38.62% voted no). The Oregon Legislature created Measure 57 to give voters a smarter alternative to Measure 61. This alternative promises $40 million to drug and alcohol treatment. The measure also increases the sentencing guidelines for certain drug and property crimes, but it doesn’t create mandatory minimums or cost the state as much in terms of tax dollars and human lives locked up.

Partnership for Safety and Justice made a difficult decision to support Measure 57. We believe our public safety dollars are much better spent on treatment and other programs that prevent crime rather than spending money on locking people up for longer periods of time. We know we made the right decision because many people who may have voted for Measure 61 without thinking too much about it chose 57 instead. We’re committed to making sure that in the next legislative session, the Oregon Legislature allocates the $40 million for substance abuse treatment, which was the smartest part of Measure 57.

Voters Say “NO” to Measures 58, 59, 60, 62, and 64 

In our last issue, we encouraged readers to vote no on several other ballot measures: 58, 59, 60, 62, and 64. We’re glad to report that voters rejected all of them. Here’s the rundown on the vote:

• Measure 58 would have severely limited the number of years a child speaking a language other than English could be taught in their first language. This measure would have restricted teachers’ abilities to provide the best education possible for Oregon students. Voters struck down this measure with 56.37% voting no (43.63% yes).
• Measure 59 would have allowed an unlimited deduction for federal income taxes on state tax returns. This measure would have helped only the wealthiest Oregonians, and would have cost Oregonians over a $1 billion in tax revenue at a time when the revenue forecast is pretty poor. 63.79% of voters struck down Measure 59 (36.21% voted yes).
• Measure 60 would have connected public school teachers’ salaries to “classroom performance,” which would have meant more standardized testing for young people. Since not all schools or students have the same access to money, programs and other resources, this measure would have also penalized good teachers in under-resourced areas and favored teachers in schools where the young people have more access to programs, technology and money. 61.43% of voters said “no” to taking decisions out of the hands of local school districts (38.57% voted yes).
• Measure 62 was another one of Kevin Mannix’s measures that voters soundly defeated with 60.59% voting no (39.41% yes). In this scheme, Mannix wanted to take 15% of Oregon’s lottery proceeds away from kids and schools and give the money state police and district attorneys. 
• Measure 64 was all about taking away public employees’ ability deduct part of their paycheck to go to charities or union dues. This campaign was close, but 50.59% of voters rejected the measure (49.41% voted yes).

PSJ is celebrating our victory against 61 along with our allies’ victories against these other ballot measures. This was a challenging election year, and even though we have something to celebrate, we also know that we have a lot of work to do to create positive change in Oregon. We can’t stop now and are working hard to keep moving forward progressive changes in the 2009 legislative session.
 

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2008 Edition of Justice Matters.