# Oregon Ballot Measure 115

Oregon Ballot Measure 115, entitled the Impeachment of Elected State Executives Amendment, was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of Oregon that was decided by voters as part of the 2024 Oregon elections on November 5, 2024. As approved by voters, it amends the state Constitution to grant the Oregon State Legislature the power to impeach and remove statewide elected officials in the Executive branch of the Oregon state government: the Oregon Governor, Oregon Secretary of State, Oregon Attorney General, Oregon State Treasurer, and Oregon Commissioner of Labor and Industries.

## Background

On May 1, 2023, then Oregon secretary of state Shemia Fagan announced that she would resign following reporting from Willamette Week that she had been working as a private consultant for the owners of La Mota, a cannabis dispensary chain operating in Oregon, while the Audits Division, which reported to Fagan, worked on an audit of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. Fagan's resignation followed calls from Republican leaders in both chambers of the Oregon State Legislature for her to resign and occurred after Governor Tina Kotek launched an ethics investigation into Fagan's actions. Over a month after Fagan's resignation, each house of the Oregon Legislature voted unanimously to send the proposed impeachment referral to voters for the 2024 general election.
As of 2024, Oregon was the only state without an impeachment doctrine enshrined in its state Constitution. The only mechanism Oregon had for removing elected officials from office is recall, a process that has never in Oregon's history been successful at removing a governor or other statewide elected official.
Proponents of the measure argue that it is needed to expedite the removal of a statewide official for malfeasance and to give state legislators a mechanism for doing so that can be utilized by legislators in all other states. Oregon Rep. Jami Cate, a Lebanon Republican, cited the past ethics violations of previous elected officials, including Fagan, as evidence that this is a tool needed by the state legislature. Opponents argue that the current recall system is already sufficient and that voters should retain the right to remove officials that they themselves elected.

## Provisions

Under the amendment, grounds for impeachment would be "malfeasance or corrupt conduct in office, willful neglect of statutory or constitutional duty or other felony or high crime." The measure would require a two-thirds supermajority vote of the Oregon House of Representatives to impeach a statewide elected official. If successfully impeached, the chief justice of the Oregon Supreme Court would preside over a trial in the Oregon State Senate. After the conclusion of the trial, a vote of the state senators would be held on conviction of the official and would require another two-thirds supermajority vote to convict.

## Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | For Measure 115 | Against Measure 115 | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling (D) | October 16–17, 2024 | 716 (LV) | ± 3.7% | 53% | 24% | 22% |
* ↑ Key: A – all adults RV – registered voters LV – likely voters V – unclear
* ↑ This poll was sponsored by the Northwest Progressive Institute

## Results

Vote tallies by county:
| County | Yes | Votes | No | Votes | Total |
| Baker | 47.86 | 4,392 | 52.14 | 4,785 | 9,177 |
| Benton | 67.07 | 31,814 | 32.93 | 15,623 | 47,437 |
| Clackamas | 63.81 | 143,553 | 36.19 | 81,405 | 224,958 |
| Clatsop | 62.22 | 13,389 | 37.78 | 8,130 | 21,519 |
| Columbia | 57.40 | 16,932 | 42.60 | 12,566 | 29,498 |
| Coos | 54.57 | 18,246 | 45.43 | 15,193 | 33,439 |
| Crook | 49.43 | 7,667 | 50.57 | 7,845 | 15,512 |
| Curry | 53.85 | 7,094 | 46.15 | 6,080 | 13,174 |
| Deschutes | 63.41 | 75,997 | 36.59 | 43,861 | 119,858 |
| Douglas | 48.27 | 28,193 | 51.73 | 30,211 | 58,404 |
| Gilliam | 42.50 | 459 | 57.50 | 621 | 1,080 |
| Grant | 40.46 | 1,695 | 59.54 | 2,494 | 4,189 |
| Harney | 41.66 | 1,680 | 58.34 | 2,353 | 4,033 |
| Hood River | 69.72 | 8,260 | 30.28 | 3,588 | 11,848 |
| Jackson | 54.13 | 60,620 | 45.87 | 51,360 | 111,980 |
| Jefferson | 52.70 | 5,861 | 47.30 | 5,261 | 11,122 |
| Josephine | 41.19 | 18,853 | 58.81 | 26,917 | 45,770 |
| Klamath | 50.69 | 16,846 | 49.31 | 16,386 | 33,232 |
| Lake | 45.30 | 1,807 | 54.70 | 2,182 | 3,989 |
| Lane | 64.21 | 126,114 | 35.79 | 70,280 | 196,394 |
| Lincoln | 62.74 | 17,480 | 37.26 | 10,383 | 27,863 |
| Linn | 54.66 | 36,845 | 45.34 | 30,563 | 67,408 |
| Malheur | 55.43 | 5,777 | 44.57 | 4,646 | 10,423 |
| Marion | 60.56 | 89,601 | 39.44 | 58,342 | 147,943 |
| Morrow | 45.45 | 2,032 | 54.55 | 2,439 | 4,471 |
| Multnomah | 80.28 | 303,176 | 19.72 | 74,484 | 377,660 |
| Polk | 57.31 | 25,735 | 42.69 | 19,167 | 44,902 |
| Sherman | 58.97 | 651 | 41.03 | 453 | 1,104 |
| Tillamook | 58.63 | 8,902 | 41.37 | 6,282 | 15,184 |
| Umatilla | 59.37 | 17,338 | 40.63 | 11,863 | 29,201 |
| Union | 48.90 | 6,757 | 51.10 | 7,062 | 13,819 |
| Wallowa | 47.99 | 2,317 | 52.01 | 2,511 | 4,828 |
| Wasco | 56.33 | 7,043 | 43.67 | 5,460 | 12,503 |
| Washington | 70.38 | 196,795 | 29.62 | 82,821 | 279,616 |
| Wheeler | 40.67 | 338 | 59.33 | 493 | 831 |
| Yamhill | 56.61 | 30,578 | 43.39 | 23,433 | 54,011 |