Analyzing the Oregon Ballot Measure Results

The election results in Oregon were definitely a mixed bag. The good news is that the legalization of marijuana passed. The bad news is that the open primary and ID card measures failed, and not just failed, but failed by a 2-1 margin. The open primary measure lost in every single county, while the ID card measure lost in every county but Portland's county. Oregon is simply not as liberal as people assume.

The ID measure was subject to some serious misrepresentations, such as the allegation that the cards would allow illegal imigrants to board planes. To the contrary, it would simply have given the TSA a way to determine the identity of who was seeking to board a plane. That is, it would give the government more tools to keep troublemakers off of planes. Similarly, when the police stop a driver, it would give the police a way to determine the identity of who they were stopping. How 67.4% of Oregonians can be against this is beyond me.

Similarly, how in the world can 68.1% of Oregonians be against the open primary? Do they actually like the bitter partisan politics which currently infects the nation. Or are Oregonians so insulated from the rest of the country that they don't realize how bad things have gotten?

The GMO labelling measure narrowly failed, while the measure for financial aid to students failed with a 58.6% no vote, passing in only two counties.

The inescapable conclusion: the electorate is basically conservative, and very set in their ways. They don't like change, even when that change means progress.