(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that had opened the door for a vote measure in Oregon to create an independent commission to draw state election constituencies.
FILE PHOTO: A General View of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC July 2, 2020. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst / File Photo
The judiciary granted a request by Oregon officials to suspend a July 10 affidavit by U.S. District Judge Michael McShane in Eugene, which ordered the state to reduce the number of signatures needed to pass the measure in the November vote. placed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Two of the nine justices, Liberals Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, said they had left the lower court order in place.
The drawing of constituencies in Oregon is currently being carried out by state legislators. Some electoral reform advocates have promoted the creation of independent commissions to delineate constituencies, saying many state legislators are drawing political cards designed to boost the party’s election prospects already in power.
The committee that proposed in Oregon would sign election cards for both chambers of state lawmakers and for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The judiciary once again sat down with state officials against changing election rules during the pandemic. In July, they blocked a lower court ruling that would have narrowed the way to an education-related voting initiative in Idaho.
In June, they rejected a bid to direct Ohio to accept electronic signatures from residents seeking to place voter initiatives, including one to increase the state’s minimum wage, on the ballot.
Voting rights groups and the commission seeking to establish the nonpartisan commission have prosecuted Oregon, saying the signature requirement and deadline would effectively remove the measure from the November vote, violating its right to free speech under the first U.S. amendment. Constitution.
On July 23, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to suspend McShane’s promotion while the lawsuit continues, prompting the Oregon Democratic General’s attorney to file an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Nearly 150,000 signatures were needed by a July 2 deadline for the initiative to go to the polls, but supporters said the pandemic had made it difficult to collect as many. McShane had instructed the state to abandon the voting initiative immediately if the deadline was extended to August 17 and to lower the signature threshold to just under 59,000.
Report by Andrew Chung in New York; Edited by Will Dunham
.
