On Monday Jackson County Clerk Chris Walker informed the Jackson County for All leaders that the statutory number of petition signatures had been verified.
The group gathered far more than were necessary to meet the required number.
The charter update group gathered over 11,500 signatures for each of the three initiatives. The number of valid signatures required to be on the ballot is 8,351. Group leaders planned to submit 25% to 30% more signatures than needed to allow for duplicate or illegible signatures. The clerk did a sampling of the ballots, testing over 1,000 from each of the three ballot proposals. The results came in, with 93% to 96% properly signed, meaning each initiative had over 10,500 valid signatures -- 2,000 more than necessary.
The county clerk sent Jackson County for All leaders a report on the sampling for each ballot initiative. The first initiative, which will have the ballot title "Jackson County Commissioners to be Non-Partisan" looks like this. The others are similar.
County Clerk Walker sent the petitioners the approved ballot titles and explanations.
15-224
Caption: Jackson County Commissioners to be Non-Partisan
Question: Should the Jackson County Commissioners switch from partisan to non-partisan starting in the 2026 primary election?
Summary: This measure changes Section 9 of the Charter of Jackson County Oregon regarding the Board of County Commissioner’s. This measure changes the elected Commissioners from a partisan office to a non-partisan office. This means no political affiliation will be shown on the ballot next to the candidate for county commissioner.
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15-225
Caption: Increase the Number of Jackson County Commissioners Positions to Five
Question: Should the number of Commissioners increase to five with no more than three positions open per election?
Summary: This measure changes Section 5 and Section 9 of the Charter of Jackson County Oregon regarding the number of elected officials on the Board of County Commissioners. This measure increases the number of County Commissioners from three (3) to five (5). The measure sets out additional requirements regarding the two additional Commissioner positions who will be elected in the 2026 general election and will serve initial two-year terms. The purpose of the initial two-year term is so that no more than three of the five positions come up for election in the same year. Following the end of the initial two-year term of the two new commissioner positions, the election term will be four years.
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15-226
Caption: Codifying Jackson County Commissioners Salaries in the County Charter
Question: Should salaries of Commissioners be decreased to $75,000.00 with future salary changes tied to average wages in Jackson County?
Summary: This measure changes Section 24 of the Charter of Jackson County Oregon to delineate the county commissioners from other elected officials regarding compensation. Section 24 of the Charter would be amended to set the County Commissioners' salaries at $75,000.00 starting January 1, 2027. Any future change in commissioner salary would be annually indexed to the average wage in Jackson County. This will cause as decrease in Commissioner salaries. Currently Commissioners salaries are set annually by the Jackson County Budget Committee. For the fiscal year 2023-2024 the annual salary range is $123,884.80 - $143,416.00.
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Jackson County for All held a town meeting in Medford a week ago to explain the initiatives and answer questions. The crowd of about 100 included supporters and opponents.
Some attendees were alerted to the meeting by Republican Party activists. The current county commissioners opposes the charter changes that would increase their number and reduce their salaries. All three currently are Republicans. Some questions from the audience from initiative opponents dealt with issues of national partisan interest, including immigration at the U.S. southern border. I am aware of no partisan skew on issues that relate to county government. County issues involve the size and funding of a new jail, the operation of the animal shelter, and the best solutions to unhoused people camping in the vegetation in the Greenway along Bear Creek.
I was one of three former commissioners who spoke at that event. We all spoke in favor of the initiatives. I said that in my experience county issues had little partisan skew and that partisanship worked against the representation and communication duties of incumbent commissioners. Partisanship meant that approximately half of the county population -- people registered in the other party -- were inclined to discount whatever one said on local issues, even if they would otherwise agree if the same thing were said by someone in their party.
I think it is important to emphasize that enacting the nonpartisan ballot measure means that the primary elections will no longer be conducted by party and that every voter will see the candidates on their ballot, not just the ballot of each party. So, if one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the primary they will be elected. Otherwise, the top two vote getters will be on the November ballot.
The nonpartisan measure is probably the most important in terms of seeing a broader spectrum of qualified candidates running for the commissioner seats.
If I had my way, I would vote to make the seats nonpartisan, to reduce the salary, and to leave the number at three.
Mr. Elliot makes a very strong point concerning a Non Partisan Board, in that hopefully a much broader spectrum of qualified people will run to fill those Seats, and reduce the Partisan bitterness infecting the Body Politic at large.