Lawmakers should leave driver-card ballot title alone

Legislators did the right thing last year when they approved Senate Bill 833, which would allow some people who are in this country illegally to obtain driver cards....Some lawmakers want this outcome so badly, however, that they may be willing to do the wrong thing.

A group that includes House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, may try to rewrite the referendum’s ballot title, a breathtakingly cynical move that would taint the very law they’re trying to preserve. To vote for a referendum doctored in this fashion would be to endorse an abuse of process. ...

Opponents of the law are right to be furious, and supporters should be.... They won’t be favorably impressed by the Legislature’s decision to game the political system in order to help those who have gamed the immigration system.

Lawmakers may be tempted to believe their manipulation will be forgotten long before ballots go out this fall. That would be a mistake. Voters will remember because driver-card opponents, not being foolish, will see that they do. And in this regard, at least, their anger will be justified.