The measures that polls rendered too close to call in the last days of the special election have passed.
State ballot measure 66 won 54 percent of the vote statewide, while 46 percent voted “no.”
On measure 67, results were fairly similar; 53.6 percent approved the measure and 46.4 percent rejected it. Results came in quickly, as this is the first election to have taken advantage of a 2009 law that allowed the county clerks to start scanning ballots a week ahead of time.
In Lane County, support for the measures was even stauncher. Although 64.4 percent of county ballots were marked “yes” on 66, only 35.3 percent of them were marked “no.” On Measure 67, 63.2 percent of county citizens approved, and 35.7 percent didn’t. A total of 120,279 county ballots were counted.
Much of the county-level support may have come from University students. In the last few weeks, the ASUO, led by ASUO President Emma Kallaway, registered more than 5,000 University students to vote — and booths and posters all over campus encouraged students to approve the measures.
Former Secretary of State and current gubernatorial candidate Bill Bradbury, who visited campus for a Measure 66 and 67 rally Monday, sent out a press release Tuesday evening shortly after the majority of returns were announced, writing, “Oregonians have spoken loud and clear tonight. They are ready to embrace the challenges of this new decade and are ready to reject the tired politics of fear and invest in the people of this state.”
Bradbury took part in the state “yes” campaign, Vote YES for Oregon, which raised about $6.85 million. The “no” campaign, Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes, raised about $4.55 million.
Measure 66 will raise taxes for individuals who make more than $125,000 and on households that collectively make $250,000. The money these taxes collect is budgeted for education, health care, public safety and other social services. Measure 67 will raise the $10 corporate minimum tax, and many businesses will now pay a $150 corporate tax annually. The money collected from this tax will also go toward social services and education, health care and public safety.
More than a million Oregonians cast their ballots in the election — as of Sunday, 1,041,117 ballots had been sent in, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Web site — which means about half of the state’s registered voters turned out to the polls.
Guy Simmons, former publisher of the Oregon Commentator and a University biology student, said he was surprised the measures passed.
“I’ve watched a whole bunch of Oregon taxes that have failed by a large margin,” he said, citing 2007’s cigarette tax put up to vote and two other tax measures, 41 and 48, that were shot down in 2006. “It’s a tax-averse state.”
College Democrats member and University senior Lindsey Klemp said she was also surprised by the landslide win — in one case.
“I’m really surprised about 67,” she said. “I was hearing that it was going to be a little closer.”
But she was “cautiously optimistic” that Measure 66 would pass. Klemp said she thought students would benefit from the passing of the measures because it meant tuition would not continue to skyrocket and the University would not have to slash its budget.
“I’m so happy,” she said. “It’s a huge victory for public education.”
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