May 24, 2022 9:20 a.m.
On Monday, the Greater Idaho movement announced that it will propose a less ambitious map to state legislatures as “phase 1” of its project.
The map now adds only eastern Oregon to Idaho. It does not give Idaho any coastline. Instead Oregon would keep all of southern Oregon west of, and including, the Cascade mountain range.
Spokesperson Mike McCarter said the move is motivated by election results released last week. Klamath County became the ninth eastern Oregon county to vote in favor of a Greater Idaho ballot measure, while the proposal was turned down in Douglas and Josephine counties.
McCarter said, “If southern Oregon changes its mind, it’s welcome to join phase 1 or phase 2 of our proposal, but we want to make progress now in state legislatures in eastern Oregon”. McCarter said, “Eastern Oregon has consistently voted in favor and so we want eastern Oregon’s request to join Idaho to be heard. There’s only a few counties left in eastern Oregon that haven’t gotten a chance to vote on Greater Idaho yet”.
McCarter said the movement will submit enough signatures this week to put the issue onto Morrow County’s November ballot. He said they have almost enough signatures to put the issue on Wallowa County’s ballot, but prefers to submit them later so that county can vote on the issue while the Oregon Legislature is in session next year.
The updated proposal would put fourteen eastern Oregon counties and three partial eastern Oregon counties under the governance of Idaho. The area has a population of 386,000. This is 9 percent of the population of Oregon and 63 percent of the land area of Oregon. Under phase 1, Idaho would almost tie Montana in land but have twice the population of Montana.
Greater Idaho is asking Oregon state legislators for hearings and for cosponsors for a resolution that would invite Idaho to begin talks with Oregon on moving the border. McCarter said that if Oregon agrees to move the border, Oregon’s state budget would be helped significantly on a per-capita basis and the Oregon state legislature would lose almost a quarter of its Republicans.
Unofficial Preliminary Results in Douglas County show the proposal being defeated with 53 percent of voters against it and 47 percent in favor, in the May Primary Election.