Please see Governance Overview here.

Jump to a topic:

• Overview

• Oregon Elections 2026

• Campaign Finance Reform

• Oregon 2026 General Election Funding

• Cybersecurity

• Oregon Primary Elections

• Legislative Outcomes Review

• Outcomes Review Bills

• EPAB: Oregon Electronic Portal Advisory Board

Overview

By Rebecca Gladstone, Coordinator

Please read our September Legislative Days Governance reports; these reports felt urgent!

• The League is leading the national defense of vote by mail balloting, with breaking judicial news this week and strong LWVOR advocacy in Oregon, Rebecca Gladstone.

• LWVOR is again central to campaign finance reform, kicking off a new 2028 initiative, Norman Turrill.

• Funding boosted to protect Oregon’s 2026 general election, Rebecca Gladstone.

• See the legislative outcomes review concept overview, Peggy Lynch, and hearing details, Rebecca Gladstone.

We continue to be vigilant about local and national issues and will review other presentations last week. We can use your help to prepare for the 2027 legislative session. Now is a great time to step up! We could use volunteer help to build our bench with all of these issues. Let’s talk about your interests and how you can help, find a good match for your time and energy. Write to lwvor@lwvor.org and staff will direct your message to each of our relevant coordinators. Participating in the League is an excellent way to know you are making a difference! Voting in Oregon, 2026 voter registration deadline is October 13.

Oregon Elections 2026 

By Rebecca Gladstone

Thanks to LWV litigation, SCOTUS ruled on Sept. 14 that there is not enough time “to reasonably implement” Executive Order 14399. See Section 2, to establish “state citizenship lists”, with other federal databases. ArtI.S4.C1.2.1 States and Elections Clause, for states’ rights and especially footnote 9, lists several cases addressing imminent election intrusions and voter identification rules. This federal intrusion into our elections runs afoul of constitutionally granted states’ rights to determine how we run our own elections. The ruling, citing inadequate timing before November’s election, implies that this could return after the election, whose outcome could influence those actions.

Federal overreach into USPS is a concern for ballot delivery in both directions: sending TO voters and for timely ballot RETURN to our county elections offices. The US Mail, USPS, should not be responsible for determining who can get ballots. LWVOR has recommended using ballot drop boxes, where possible and Oregon’s prepaid postage is not charged in drop box use. If you need to send your ballot in USPS mail, we recommend you go to a post office counter and ask for a hand post mark.

Important Election Dates from the SoS:

October 13, 2026: Last day to register to vote. Registration cards postmarked by this date or submitted online no later than 11:59 pm are valid. 

October 14, 2026: First day ballots are mailed to voters. 

November 3, 2026 Election Day: County Clerk's office open 7 am - 8 pm. Last day for voter to return ballot. Ballots that are mailed must be postmarked by election day. Ballots deposited in an official drop box must be received by 8 pm on election day. 

December 10, 2026: Final election results certified. 

Campaign Finance Reform 

By Norman Turrill

Stomp Out Dark Money in Oregon Elections

The League and Honest Elections Oregon (HEO) filed the IP-34 constitutional amendment initiative with the Secretary of State last week and are now collecting the required 1000 signatures to start the ballot title process. LWVOR President Mark Kendall of Salem is one of the three Chef Petitioners and an author of Sunday’s Oregonian/OregonLive op-ed.

This proposal is modelled after the Montana Plan, the state that started the idea. Supporters in Montana recently submitted enough signatures in 11 weeks on a statutory initiative petition to force it onto the Montana November ballot. The Hawaii legislature also recently passed a statute implementing it for that state. We expect both to be challenged in the courts.

The idea originated with a former Federal Election Commission staffer. It stems from the recognition that all corporation powers and privileges have been granted by state and federal laws but not state constitutions. The U.S. Supreme Court created a new corporate power with the Citizens United v. FEC case that gave corporations the right of free speech.

This proposal defines an “artificial person” as any entity that is not an individual. This very comprehensive term includes every type of corporation: for-profit, nonprofit, union, trust, trade association, foundation, religious organization, partnership, unincorporated association, etc. Each of these types of corporations has a separate section in Oregon statutory law, but they are never mentioned in the Oregon Constitution. This Oregon version proposes to revoke all powers and privileges granted by the state to artificial persons, then reinstate these without including campaign finance privileges.

However, artificial persons are not entirely blocked from participating in elections. All such entities are permitted to establish and administer a political committee that only individuals can contribute to. Most labor unions already have such a political committee and usually don’t contribute to candidates from their union treasury.

HEO believes this must be a constitutional amendment because the Oregon Legislature has shown for decades that it is hostile to any attempt to reform campaign finance.

Contribution Limits and Disclosures

HB 4018 (2026) on campaign finance (CFR) is now law, rammed through by the House and the Senate during the last legislative session. Because the Legislature betrayed the deal made in 2024 with HEO for withdrawing Initiative Petition 9 in exchange for passage of HB 4024 (2024), HEO now believes that it has no choice but to draft a new constitutional amendment initiative on campaign finance. HEO believes this must be a constitutional amendment because of the hostility that the Oregon Legislature has shown to any attempt to reform campaign finance.

HEO has now drafted such a constitutional amendment initiative and will file it soon with the Secretary of State. Literally all types of campaign contributions would be limited. The proposal would also require the disclosure of these contributions down to the original source of the money, not just the last person that touched the money.

ORESTAR

In the meantime, the Elections Division under the Secretary of State is struggling to implement the requirements of the 2026 bill by January 1, 2027. In testimony to House Rules on September 8, a representative of the SoS said it will be difficult to meet this deadline, but they are committed to doing so by modifying ORESTAR, the Oregon Elections System for Tracking and Reporting. This is exactly what HEO and the League said should happen earlier this year when the SoS wanted to replace ORESTAR at great expense.

Oregon 2026 General Election funding

With urging from LWVOR and the Joint Interim Subcommittee on Human Services, Oregon’s 2026 general election got unanimous E-Board support votes to fully fund:

• DROP BOXES AND STAFFING 20 new ballot drop boxes and county elections offices staffing to support ballot processing, with higher anticipated use. Amid postal service uncertainty, Oregon election officials turn to ballot drop boxes, Oregon Capital Chronicle, Sept. 3, 2026

• BALLOT TRACKING so voters can see where their ballots are as federal executive orders increase voter uncertainty. This service can also fulfill an Oregon Elections Division Directive 2026-08 required action: Track Ballots Rejected for Processing: Record any ballots that USPS rejects for processing, including the stated reason for rejection. Promptly report these rejections to the Elections Division.

• INACTIVE VOTER NOTIFICATION Oregon to Resume Routine Cleanup of Outdated, Inactive Voter Registration Records This could help voters prevent unexpected removal, in time for the 2026 general election. Note that ballots are not sent to inactive voters. The League supported Secretary of State Dennis Richardson’s 2017 rule extending inactive voter status from 5 years to 10 years.

Cybersecurity

By Rebecca Gladstone

The Joint Information Management and Technology Committee has several new members, facing that cybersecurity funding often suffers in competing in Ways & Means. The Sept 10 meeting (video) focused on Oregon’s cyber preparedness, ranked near the middle for state security and resilience, when a cyber emergency crosses over into a physical emergency. This is should be required reading, since “nobody told us” is not a responsible defense. We must be ready as a state, assuming that we won’t be a high national priority in a coordinated attack. We are building resources to respond but need more fundamental protective structures. Crisis prevention costs much less than response. Cybersecurity is a newer form of war. It affects all of our LWVOR portfolios, for example, water as a natural resource. Drinking water, though is administered under OHA, the health authority, and public awareness, into our public education curriculum, is usually social policy.

The Cybersecurity Cener of Excellence update is reassuring for collaborations and cyber workforce development. EIS recommendations should be implemented. Imminent threats are alarming.

Oregon’s critical infrastructures

Oregon is on the front line for attacks for data centers and high tech firms, the silicon forest, and ocean cables. Cyber awareness should expand statewide, as part of our public education curriculum.

See Oregon’s Cybersecurity Center of Excellence report, p. 5, cybersecurity forecasts. The 6 shown sectors of 15 followed are at high risk of cyber-attack, with water systems and energy grid at very high “state actor battlespace” risk. If attacked, they predict a cascading failure through multiple sectors. Power would fail within 7-12 hours, then water, telecommunications, then fuel, so with 72 hours, we’d have chaos. Federal intelligence shows imminent threat in the next two years. Considering the highest risk concentrations from China and Russia/Hybrid together, these reach critical status for probable 2026-2027 state-sponsored attack.

We need system assessments and further, to assign who will fix them and who will pay. Incident reporting and assessment legislation was considered in the 2026 short session, deferred for comprehensive consideration, knowing that those under attack could be ill-equipped to respond, let alone quickly assess conditions. We need to fund protection and responses. Federal CISA and DHS support to local governments is greatly reduced. Security clearance delays are hampering collaboration.

Drinking water

For example, the Governor’s EO 25-26 mentions water resilience for climate change and watershed enhancement but not as a critical infrastructure needing protection. The relevant drinking water safety operational technology is administered under the Oregon Health Authority Drinking Water Services program, covering ~3,450 Oregon public water systems. See the report above, p. 6. We lack good data, outside of Eugene and Portland.

Election cybersecurity

Social media disinformation merited comment as “the old spy games in the digital world now.” Tech companies met before the last national election and refused to comply with a federal movement to restrict social media manipulation undermining democracy. It became a recommendation.

Data Privacy

The mandated Dept of Revenue race and ethnicity data privacy report, to implement SB 1 Enrolled (2023), for data privacy, also is for studying tax policy equity. See the 2026 summary, p. 13. The data control and privacy laws seen in the European Union are simply “advisories” at the federal level here.

Oregon’s Primary Elections

By Rebecca Gladstone

Barbara Klein has been following this. For Interim House Rules, the Legislative Policy and Research Office presented a History of Proposals to Change Oregon’s Primary Elections, from 1998 to 2025, none of which gained ballot access. See the video, a legislator asked why placement in the Oregon constitution mattered and the analyst asked to get back to them. Audience members are not encouraged to comment during legislative hearings. A relevant example is legislative campaign finance reform in statute, HB 4024 Enrolled (2024), with League testimony, which was largely gutted by HB 4018 (2026), negotiated in a very short time with limited public access.

Upcoming issues we’re following:

• Retail algorithms, data privacy and electronic shelf labeling (ESL). This was addressed in House Commerce and Consumer Protection, see Affordability in Retail Pricing & Privacy in the Age of Algorithms - Thomas McBrien (presentation)

• Data centers Increasing public awareness of their costs and lack of local economic support.

Legislative Outcomes Review

By Peggy Lynch

The House Interim Committee On Rules held a public information hearing on “Outcomes Reviews Process Overview and Update” during their Sept. 8^th meeting (Meeting Materials). Legislators reviewed bills they had championed and shared what they had learned. It was important that it was the legislators who supported the bills who were doing the reporting. But some legislation takes years before it is really implemented and legislators come and go. So perhaps reviews should happen in the committee that passed the bill. Part of what was learned was the need to be clearer in writing legislation to allow for it to be implemented in a way that leads to the outcomes wanted.

Oregonlive provided an editorial in support of the process. Legislators need to consider the cost of this process and, if they move forward, should limit the number of bills reviewed. 

Outcomes Review Bills

By Rebecca Gladstone

See Peggy Lynch’s coverage above. We heard presentations to evaluate 3 bills using the Outcome Review Process initiated by House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, aiming to evaluate whether legislation accomplished what was intended and whether it needed changes. See the video.

Paraphrasing from Sen. Gomberg’s newsletter:

The House Rules Committee updated the Outcomes Review Process Coming back to review whether bills actually worked is risky. Do I really want to know if the measure I wrote made a difference? Do I want the public to know if it didn’t? The answer should be a resounding yes! And that’s why I volunteered to be one of five legislators auditing one of our bills.

Bills covered included

• HB 4022 Enrolled (2026), Rep. Bowman presented, to fund the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. See the presentation materials. Note, please share the program registration to check availability in your area, for Oregon’s children, aged 0-5 years old.

• HB 3410 Enrolled (2023) Rep Gomberg presented this $100 million bill addressing a number of needs, including a small part for maritime jobs on the coast, proposes increasing consumption of local Oregon seafood. 90% of the seafood served in Oregon restaurants is not from Oregon. A boost from 10% to 20% could have a $90 million impact on the fishing industry. See the presentation materials.

• SB 554 Enrolled (2021) Sen Reynolds presented this firearm access and secure storage bill. Compare the (partial data) “significant decrease” in unintentional shootings by a child in Oregon, from 2015 to 2025, graph on p. 4 pf the presentation materials, to the national figures, not showing significant decreases, by contrast, on p. 5. We note that CDC data on firearm suicide deaths, by year and age, in Oregon, has been “suppressed”. This article is (gifted access) shared press: Trump Administration Guts Efforts to Prevent Gun Violence, July 7 2026. Online access to data may be intermittent.

EPAB Oregon Electronic Portal Advisory Board 

By Rebecca Gladstone

The board’s quarterly meeting, August 20, addressed board member term limits, updates to the and. This board member posed questions about ease of website searching the Governor’s Newsroom website, visibility / awareness of user’s data being shared in Secretary of State websites, and how we are ensuring that the DoJ compliance for accessibility rules are being followed. This will go on to our next agenda.

Interested in reading additional reports?  Please see our Climate Emergency, Revenue, Natural Resources, and Social Policy report sections.