A 13th county in Oregon passed a measure that would allow the county to move forward with efforts to secede from the state and join the Republican-governed state of Idaho.
Voters in Crooks County passed Measure 7-86, also known as the “Greater Idaho” measure, 53 percent to 47 percent on Tuesday, according to the Central Oregon Daily News.
Greater Idaho Executive Director Matt McCaw issued a statement that there was “no excuse left” for the Oregon Legislature or Gov. Tina Kotek (D) to “continue to ignore the people’s wishes.”
“The voters of eastern Oregon have spoken loudly and clearly about their desire to see border talks move forward,” McCaw said in his statement. “With this latest result in Crook County, there’s no excuse left for the Legislature and Governor to continue to ignore the people’s wishes. We call on the Governor, Speaker of the House, and Senate President to sit down with us and discuss next steps towards changing governance for eastern Oregonians, as well as for the legislature to begin holding hearings on what a potential border change will look like.”
Voters in Oregon counties such as Baker, Morrow, Sherman, Union, Lake, Grant, Harney, Klamath, Wheeler, and Wallowa have passed similar measures to the one passed in Crook County.
If successful, the Oregon border would be shifted 200 miles to the west from where it currently is.
“The Greater Idaho movement seeks to move the border between Oregon and Idaho to include 14 full eastern Oregon counties and 3 partial ones,” the movement says on its website. “In addition to the 13 counties who have passed Greater Idaho measures, in 2023 the Idaho House passed a memorial inviting the Oregon Legislature to begin border talks.”
In order to have the border of Oregon moved, both states would need to approve, and the United States Congress would also need to approve and weigh in, according to Article 1, Section 10, and Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution.
The movement explained in the frequenty asked questions section of the website that “it makes more sense for conservative counties to be under Idaho governance than Oregon governance” due to southern and eastern Oregon counties leaning more conservatively with voting records.
