Oregon, My Oregon, Another County Votes to Secede from Portlandia

Leslie Eastman at LI, Twelfth Oregon County Votes to Join the “Greater Idaho” Movement. "These counties do not want to be part of the “Greater Utopia” that includes Portland."

This January, I wrote that one Oregon county submitted a petition that added a ballot initiative for joining 11 other of the state’s counties in the “Greater Idaho” movement.

The votes have been counted and its official: Wallowa County is now part of the “Greater Idaho” movement.

The vote originally took place in May, with preliminary results showing support for the effort leading by only 21 votes. After all votes were finalized in June, the lead shrunk to only seven votes, narrowly avoiding the state requirement for a recount.

The “Greater Idaho” effort originally began in 2020 as an idea for large swaths of rural eastern Oregon to secede and join the more conservative Idaho to get away from the western, progressive part of the state.

With Wallowa County’s vote, 12 out of 12 counties that have held an election on a “Greater Idaho” measure of any kind have voted in favor of exploring the move.

The adage “every vote counts” was certainly true in this case.

The 50.1% to 49.9% split in Wallowa County will require its commissioners to discuss merging with Idaho and won’t trigger a recount, an elections official in Wallowa County confirmed to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The final vote count stood at 1,752 people for Measure 32-007, which will require that commissioners “meet twice annually to discuss promoting Wallowa County interest in relocating Idaho borders to include Wallowa County,” versus 1,745 people against it.

Wallowa County Clerk Sandy Lathrop said the measure missed the requirement for a mandatory recount by just one vote. A recount is required by Oregon law when the winning margin is less than or equal to .2%, which is 6.994 votes in this instance. The state does not round up, she said, so seven votes wasn’t small enough to force a recount.

Lathrop also said six contested ballots were not cured before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. deadline.

Of course, they cannot really secede without the agreement of the Oregon legislature, the Idaho legislature, and the US Congress, so any such move is in the far future, if possible at all. But hopefully it's a warning shot to the Willamette Valley centric Oregon government that the hinterlands are getting restive. As long as you're trying, why not just secede to form a new state, and get 2 Senators.