Towers v. Myers

Summary

The Oregon Supreme Court reviewed the Attorney General’s certified ballot title for Initiative Petition 28 (2008), which would impose deadlines and procedural requirements for challenges to initiative measures. The court held that the caption and yes-vote result statement were misleading because they referred to eliminating challenges concerning an initiative’s “lawful placement on ballot,” and referred the ballot title to the Attorney General for modification.

Holdings

1. An objection that hyphenated phrases in the caption and yes-vote result statement exceeded the statutory word limits was not preserved because the petitioner did not raise it in written comments to the Secretary of State.
2. The caption and yes-vote result statement did not substantially comply with ORS 250.035 because the phrase "lawful placement on ballot" inaccurately suggested that the proposed measure eliminated only challenges to initiatives lawfully placed on the ballot, when the measure would prohibit certain procedural challenges after the specified deadline regardless of whether the initiative was lawfully or unlawfully placed on the ballot.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the phrase "lawful placement on ballot" in the ballot-title caption and yes-vote result statement misleadingly described the proposed measure.
2. Whether the petitioner preserved an objection that hyphenated phrases were improperly counted as single words under the statutory word limits.
3. Whether the certified ballot title substantially complied with ORS 250.035(2)(a) and (b).

Disposition

other