Laws governing recall in Oregon

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The citizens of Oregon are granted the authority to perform a recall election by Article 2, Section 18 of the Oregon Constitution. This right of recall was created in 1908. Oregon and Michigan, which also created the right of recall in 1908, were the first two states to adopt statewide recall procedures.^[1]

Oregon is one of nine states with provisions that say that the right of recall extends to recalling members of its federal congressional delegation, but it hasn't been clear whether federal courts would allow states to actually recall their federal politicians.^[2]

Signature requirement[edit]

Main article: Oregon signature requirements

The number of valid signatures required to force a recall election is 15% of the total number of votes cast in the public officer’s electoral district for all candidates for Governor at the last election at which a candidate for Governor was elected to a full term.

Preparing the recall petition[edit]

Can you recall a federal official?
The U.S. Constitution does not provide for recall of any elected federal official. Although some state constitutions have stated that their citizens have the right to recall members of the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court has not ruled on whether this is constitutional at the federal level. Read Ballotpedia's explanation »

The Oregon Secretary of State says this about the recall process in the state:^[3]

1. The first step for a recall petition against a state public officer is the filing of a prospective recall petition with the Secretary of State, Elections Division. The chief petitioner for a recall must be a registered voter in the district from which the public officer is elected or appointed.

2. After receiving a sufficient prospective petition for a recall of a state public officer and no later than 3 business days after the prospective petition is filed, the Elections Division provides the chief petitioner with official templates of the cover and signature sheets for the petition. Once the chief petitioner has received the official templates, they may begin the approval for circulation process. The cover and signature sheets must be approved in writing by the Elections Division before the chief petitioner may begin circulating the recall petition.

3. Using the official templates provided by the Elections Division, the chief petitioner prepares and submits cover and signature sheets exactly as intended to circulate, including weight, style and color of paper with the cover sheet (SEL 350) copied on the reverse side of the signature sheet (SEL 351). Only a chief petitioner or authorized agents may submit cover and signature sheets for approval.

The chief petitioner must turn in the required number of signatures no later than 90 days after the prospective petition has been filed.

Circulating the petition[edit]

There is a wide variety of rules and regulations that have to be followed. These are listed in full in the Oregon State Recall Manual, which can be found here.

Petition filing and verification of signatures[edit]

Once the proper number of signatures have been gathered the Chief Petitioner, and only the Chief petitioner, must submit the signatures to the Elections Divisions. The signatures must be separated by county and numbered sequentially within the counties.

After receiving the signature sheets from the chief petitioner, the Elections Division begins the process of verifying the signatures to determine if the recall petition contains enough valid signatures to qualify for an election. (Taken from the Oregon State Recall Manual)

Campaign finance regulations[edit]

There are many campaign finance regulations that must be filed for recall elections in Oregon. A list of these can be found in the Recall Manual.

Contact information[edit]

Oregon Secretary of State
Elections Division
255 Capitol St NE, Suite 501
Salem, OR 97310-0722
(503) 986-1518

External links[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

[ncsl-1] National Conference of State Legislatures, "Recall of State Officials," accessed October 13, 2023

[2] Big Government, "The Right of Recall," February 9, 2010

[3] Oregon Secretary of State, "Recall Manual," accessed September 9, 2019

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