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As Republicans nationally celebrate their return to power in Washington D.C., a coterie of Oregon Republicans, led by former two-time legislative candidate Ben Edtl, are pursuing a strategy to chip away at Democrats’ dominance in the state, where they hold all statewide offices and supermajorities in both legislative chambers.
In December, Edtl, who is running for chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, and co-chief petitioners Michaela Hammerson and Stephen Joncus filed Initiative Petition 26-037. The initiative would amend the Oregon Constitution to prohibit voting by mail, except for absentee ballots.
Although Republicans nationally have railed against vote by mail, Republicans in Oregon vote at a higher rate than Democrats—there are just far fewer of them.
The petitioners need to gather 156,321 valid signatures to qualify for the 2026 ballot.
Edtl says he distrusts the mechanism and its results. “With vote by mail there’s no way to confirm that a single voter cast a single vote,” he says. “Republicans and moderate Democrats, like [former Portland mayoral candidate] Rene Gonzalez, will never win an election in Oregon as long as we continue with vote by mail.”
This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit investigative newsroom for the state of Oregon. OJP seeks to inform, engage, and empower Oregonians with investigative and watchdog reporting that makes a significant impact at the state and local levels. Its stories appear in partner newspapers across the state. Learn more at oregonjournalismproject.org.