With a voters pamphlet that rivals some Oregon phone books in size, the secretary of state’s office has posted all the material on the 26 state ballot measures and dozens of candidates on the Internet.
Paddy McGuire, chief of staff for the secretary of state’s office, said the pamphlet was placed online because of its size and to inform voters living outside the state.
“On the very first day the site was up, we received an e-mail from an Oregonian living in Scotland who found a problem with one of the site’s links,” McGuire said. “That’s pretty instantaneous results that folks all over the globe are using it.” McGuire quickly added that the problem was fixed.
The pamphlet, at www.oregonvotes.com, will spare voters the task of thumbing through the 376-page printed voters pamphlet, McGuire said.
“It’s about as long as the Eugene-Springfield white pages, and it’s the first voters pamphlet to be bound like a phone book,” he said.
Every registered voter will still be receiving a copy of the voters guide so there won’t be any reduced cost from posting the pamphlet on the Internet. But McGuire said the secretary of state’s office received non-profit bulk rate postage from the Post Office and will save money through that reduced rate. He said the state saved approximately $700,000 through the rate, which reduced mailing costs from $1.2 million to about $450,000.
Annette Newingham, Lane County elections manager, said the that information online will help voters understand the issues, but couldn’t say whether or not that will improve voter turnout.
“I’m not really sure if that’s going to be a factor,” she said.
Information on the two Lane County bond measures — 20-38 and 20-39 for a forest work camp for minor offenders and jail improvements — is available at the Lane County Web site: www.co.lane.or.us.
Brian Tanner, the state affairs coordinator for the ASUO, said the Web site should help students find voter information. He added that the ASUO will be putting together its own guide about measures that will have a direct effect on higher education, but for other state measures, the Web site would be a better source than the bulky pamphlet.
“I don’t think any student in their right mind with all the other reading they have to do anyway would look through [the voters pamphlet],” he said.