Oregon State Capitol Building. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 11:20 AM PT – Friday, February 26, 2021
Far left laws and a lack of representation for rural voters pushed five Oregon counties to vote on initiatives to detach from the state and join the bordering red state of Idaho. The initiative, known as Move Oregon’s Borders, confirmed Tuesday that the push to extend Idaho’s lines into parts of rural eastern and southern Oregon will be on some counties’ ballots for an upcoming special election.
Baker, Grant, Lake, Malheur and Sherman Counties will vote on the initiative, which is also known as the Greater Idaho Project, on May 18. President of the Move Oregon’s Borders Initiative Mike McCarter cited Governor Kate Brown (D-Ore.) and the state legislature’s bias in favor of Democrat-run areas, like Portland, over rural communities.
The Republican Party’s elephant symbol is seen on display October 24, 2000 at the Republican campaign headquarters in El Paso, Texas. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Newsmakers)
“More than 75 percent of the population and the legislators are in the Willamette Valley,” McCarter stated. “So they’re passing their drug laws — or should I say lack of laws and justice going on there. They’re passing their tax and spend issues, their homeless, their illegals, their Antifa.”
McCarter said the organization submitted over 140 percent of the signatures required to get the measure on ballots in those counties. He added the objective of the vote is not to secede from Oregon, but to call on county commissioners to work towards the process of extending Idaho’s borders to expand across the 19 counties the organization hopes to include.
“This issue goes back to the founding of this country about people that don’t think that they’re being represented,” (R-Idaho) said. “Because of the changing demographic of the state.”
In order for the initiative to go through, ballot measures would need to pass, Oregon and Idaho legislators would create a contract, and Congress would need to vote for approval. McCarter added the organization does not wish for Idaho’s name to change, but said they just want to be part of the state they feel represents them.
Slivers of Northern California and southeastern Washington could potentially be added to the measure. State lines have not been changed or extended in over a century, but if the initiatives go through Congress, Idaho could have a coastline.
