Healthy Democracy Oregon is sending about 10,000 letters to Oregon voters inviting them to participate in the selection process for a Citizens’ Initiative Review. The citizen review is a reform to Oregon’s initiative process meant to provide voters with clear, useful and trustworthy evaluations of statewide ballot measures. The evaluations are conducted by citizens’ panels of randomly selected and demographically balanced groups of 24 Oregon voters.
Letters mailed this week encourage voters to complete a short survey and return it if they would like to be included in a jury pool from which panelists would be selected. On July 1, Healthy Democracy Oregon will hold a public event in Salem to select the final panelists.
“It’s a very special opportunity for voters to participate in these reviews, and to take part in a groundbreaking reform to Oregon’s initiative process” said Elliot Shuford, Healthy Democracy Oregon’s co-director.
In August, panelists will participate in hearings in which advocates and policy experts present arguments and facts about individual ballot measures. After five days of testimony and deliberation, panelists will craft a “Citizens’ Statement” for the Oregon Voter’s Pamphlet.
The statement will detail the most important information and key findings about the measures. Two reviews will be conducted in August in Salem.
“Campaigns and interest groups spend millions on carefully crafted messages and sound bites that are primarily meant to influence, not inform,” said Tyrone Reitman, Healthy Democracy Oregon’s co-director. “The citizen review provides voters with a new tool for sorting through the political noise at election time.”
The Citizens’ Initiative Review is a project of Healthy Democracy Oregon, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization committed to strengthening citizen participation in the statewide ballot initiative process.