Multnomah County referendum petition procedures

MULTNOMAH COUNTY REFERENDUM PETITION PROCEDURES

• File prospective referendum petition with Multnomah County Elections. - A prospective referendum petition must be filed after the legislation by ordinance is adopted. Completed petition signatures must be filed for signature verification with the county elections office no later than the 90th day after Board's adoption of legislation. To determine the filing deadline, day one is the first day after the measure was adopted by the Board. If more than 90 days has passed since the ordinance was adopted changes may only be made by initiative petition.
  • The prospective referendum petition must include the following:
    • Text of the ordinance as enacted by the Multnomah County Commission.
    • SEL 370 which designates not more than three chief petitioners.
      
• Within 3 business days of spending or receiving any money to support the referendum effort file Statement of Organization and Campaign Account Information with Secretary of State’s Office. Approval to circulate will not be given until the Statement of Organization and Campaign Account Information form have been filed with State Elections Division.

• Multnomah County Elections Division will date stamp all materials and verify that all required information is included. The referendum will be reviewed to determine if referendum proposes “county legislation" and then.written approval will be sent to the chief petitioners if all information is complete and correct. Multnomah County Elections will then assign the petition an identifi­cation number MultCoInit-##. The petitioners can then submit the cover and signature sheets for approval. If a decision is made that the referendum is not "county legislation," petitioners may challenge that decision in Circuit Court.

• The Elections office forwards the referendum to the County Attorney for preparation of the ballot title. For a referendum, the ballot title drafting process and the collection of signatures can occur simultaneously. Once the chief petitioners have received written approval to circulate from the county elections official the chief petitioners may begin collecting signatures. The chief petitioners are not required to wait for the ballot title before collecting signatures.
  • Number of signatures required (4% votes cast for Governor Nov 2018).

• County Attorney has five business days to generate a ballot title and an explanatory statement for the voters’ pamphlet.

• County Attorney returns one copy of prospective petition, ballot title and explanatory statement to Elections Office, one copy to one of the chief petitioners.

• Elections Office publishes notice that an elector may challenge ballot title or explanatory statement in Circuit Court. Challenge period is seven business days after receipt of ballot title and explanatory statement from the County Attorney.

• Any person filing a challenge must file a copy of the challenge with the Elections Office by the end of the next business day after the challenge is filed with the Circuit Court.

• If no challenge is filed, or as soon as a challenge has been adjudicated, Elections Office certifies official ballot title to one of the chief petitioners.

• Petitioners must submit signatures no more than 90 days from the date that the Board of County Commissioners adopted the ordinance being referred.

• Elections Office has up to 30 days to verify signatures using random sample.

• If sufficient signatures are provided, the Elections Office certifies referendum petition to Board of County Commissioners.

• Board of County Commissioners calls election that is not sooner than 90th day after certification.