Opinion ID: 1132565
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Registration after Signing

Text: Petitioners next claim that the county clerks erroneously declared invalid the signatures of 76 people who registered to vote after signing the petition but before the petition was filed. Fifteen of the disqualified signers in this category registered on the same day they signed the petition. The county clerks invalidated the signatures in accordance with the Secretary of State's Directive # 1977-15, which states in part: If the date of signing indicated on the petition signature sheet precedes the date of registration as defined in ORS 247.012(3), the signature shall not be counted. (Emphasis added.) Article IV, section 1 of the Oregon Constitution requires that an initiative petition be signed by a certain number of qualified voters. Article II, section 2 of the Oregon Constitution sets out the requirements of a qualified voter including the requirement that the voter be registered prior to the election in the manner provided by law. ORS 247.025 states: A person, to vote in an election, must be registered before the poll closes. Petitioners assert that any petition signer who registers within the statutory period, or at least prior to verification cannot be disqualified. The qualifications for petition signers are set forth at ORS 250.025. That statute provides: Any elector may sign an initiative or referendum petition for any measure on which the elector is entitled to vote. (Emphasis added.) The statute and article IV, section 1(2)(b) contemplate that petition signers will be qualified voters at the time they sign the petition. ORS 250.045(7) requires circulators to verify on each signature sheet that every person who signed the sheet did so in the presence of the circulator and that the circulator believes each individual is an elector. The purpose of the petition process is to gather the signatures of eligible voters in sufficient number to present the measure in an election forum. As we read these statutes, eligibility to vote is a requirement that must exist at the time a voter signs a petition. Defendants did not err when they disqualified signatures on this basis. With regard to the 15 signers who registered the same day, petitioners indicate in their pleadings that these signers registered after they signed. In their memorandum they state that these signers registered and signed at the same time. It appears from the memorandum that the petition signers may have filled out registration cards at the same time they signed the petition. A voter is not registered, however, until a legible, accurate and complete registration card is received in the office of the county clerk for the county in which the person resides   . ORS 247.012(3). Petitioners make no claim that the registration cards were received the same day. It appears, therefore, that these 15 signers were properly disqualified.