Proposed driver-card ballot title buries the truth: Editorial

Six of the House Rules Committee’s nine members voted Tuesday to hijack the normal process for writing ballot titles. The move is a barely disguised marketing effort for a law that would grant driving privileges to people in this country illegally. It won’t work, and driver-card supporters who value the Legislature’s credibility should oppose the change during an expected House vote Wednesday.

The certified ballot title, which has been appealed to the Supreme Court, is as follows: “Provides Oregon resident ‘driver card’ without requiring proof of legal presence in the United States.”

The end-run ballot title upon which the House may vote Wednesday is as follows: “Establishes limited purpose, duration driver card for individuals who prove Oregon residency, meet driving requirements.”

... the most notable difference between the original title and the proposed replacement is the removal of “legal presence,”... 

And as for accuracy, the DOJ’s ballot title practically quotes SB833, which directs the Department of Transportation to “issue, renew or replace a driver card without requiring a person to provide proof of legal presence in the United States …”

The Legislature’s effort to write its own ballot title has nothing to do with accuracy. The effort, rather, betrays a belief that voters won’t approve SB833 if they know what it actually does.