PORTLAND, Ore. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have appealed a decision by a federal judge against disenfranchised petition signers who sought to put Oregon’s “domestic partnership” law before the voters. The case will now be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
“In America, every citizen’s voice counts. Government bureaucracy cannot be allowed to disenfranchise Oregon voters. One of their most important rights cannot be tossed aside,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Austin R. Nimocks.
ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit,
Lemons v. Bradbury, on behalf of several Oregonians after the Secretary of State and several different county clerks wrongfully rejected valid citizens’ petition signatures for Referendum 303, which would allow voters to decide the “domestic partnerships” issue. Many of these excluded citizens sought in person, but to no avail, to have their signatures validated.
At a hearing on Feb. 1, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman lifted his preliminary injunction against the “domestic partnership” law, H.B. 2007, on which voters have never been heard (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4381). During the hearing, the judge stated that voters in Oregon have no legal right to have their petition signatures counted.
“Their signatures were genuine, and no legitimate reason existed to refuse to allow these registered voters to participate in the democratic process,” said Nimocks. “Our country is founded on the basic principle of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It should stay that way in Oregon.”
A copy of the petition to appeal to the 9th Circuit filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon is available at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/LemonsAppeal.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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