Oregonians for Immigration Reform submitted about 60,000 signatures Oct. 3 to qualify a referendum for the November 2014 ballot.

On Monday, March 31, leaders of Oregonians for Immigration Reform [OFIR] received the welcome news that their state's Supreme Court had approved a suitable title for the referendum OFIR had labored to qualify for the November, 2014 ballot.  

Absent this referendum, for which OFIR had collected signatures from more than 70,000 registered voters during an intense, 90-day period, the law — passed by the legislature and signed by the governor in spring, 2013 — would have gone into effect on January 1, 2014: Illegal aliens would have had access to "driver cards," whose use would supposedly be limited to driving (HAH!).   

But the referendum lets Oregon's citizens have the final say on whether their state makes this step-capitulation to illegal immigration.  If the majority vote "NO" in November, the driver cards are dead (unless, of course, Oregon's traitorous legislators are unchastened by the voters' rebuke and try again in their next session).  But if the majority vote "YES," the driver cards will become available, after all, one month after the election, and OFIR's blood, sweat, and tears will have been for naught.

The ballot measure's title is critical because it's the full extent of what many voters will know about the measure before they cast their votes.  So OFIR hopes that the title will make clear to distracted citizens just what it is they're voting on.

If you want to learn about an earlier round in OFIR's struggle to secure a serviceable title for their referendum, you can read my March 23 VDARE.com article.  And a brief piece (Driver card referendum: Oregon Supreme Court rules on ballot title fight, by Yuxing Zheng, April 2, 2014) in the state's biggest paper, the Oregonian, gives an overview in the wake of the court's decision. 

An April 2 email to OFIR's members and friends (I'm a friend!) included the referendum's title and summary as they will appear on the ballot: 

BALLOT TITLE

 

Provides Oregon resident "driver card" without requiring proof of legal presence in the United States.

 

Result of "Yes" Vote: "Yes" vote directs Department of Transportation to issue "driver card" to Oregon resident meeting specified eligibility, without requiring proof of legal presence in United States.

 

Result of "No" Vote: "No" vote rejects law directing Department of Transportation to issue "driver card" to eligible Oregon resident without requiring proof of legal presence in United States.

Summary: Current law requires any applicant for an Oregon driver license or permit to provide proof of legal presence in the United States.  Measure directs the Department of Transportation to issue a "driver card" to an applicant who does not provide proof of legal presence in the United States, but who has otherwise complied with all Oregon requirements for the type of driving privileges sought, has provided proof of residence in Oregon for more than one year, and has provided proof of identity and date of birth. The driver card may not be used as identification for air travel, to enter a federal building, to register to vote or to obtain any government benefit requiring proof of citizenship or lawful presence in United States. Other provisions.

Jim Ludwick, one of OFIR's leaders, told me that the state's Democratic grandees had commissioned a poll on the referendum and learned that it was a big loser for them (i.e. a big winner for OFIR) if the title included even a hint of what it was really about — letting illegal aliens have driver's licenses.

So they set out on two tracks to make the ballot title opaque enough to obscure the legislature-passed law's purpose.  One track was the attempted legislative chicanery described in my article linked above.  The other was a lawsuit by the ACLU, actually initiated before the legislature attempted its end run around civic decency.  That lawsuit is what foundered before the Supreme Court this week.

Thus it's clear sailing for OFIR to pound away from now to November on (typically clueless) voters so that they associate this referendum (whose ballot number still needs to be assigned) and "NO."

You can learn about OFIR, which is perhaps the most persistent and successful state-level group working for immigration sanity, at its website.  Plus they have a separate website, Protect Oregon Driver Licenses, set up for this campaign.