MEDFORD, Ore. – “Jackson County For All” is asking the Secretary of State’s office to investigate Jackson County Commissioners for potentially violating state election laws.
The group a campaign aiming to make changes to how the county is run. The group is hoping to expand the Board of Commissioners from three to five and make them non-partisan.
It has now gathered more than 10,000 signatures, way more than they need, in hopes of getting three different measures on the May ballot. The county clerk’s office is currently verifying them.
But the group claims that two of the current three commissioners publicly asked people to oppose the effort at a local political party meeting. Campaign Manager, Denise Krause said,
“We’re sitting there, seeing all of this going on and it obviously seems quite inappropriate and like an abuse of their position but then digging in a little deeper, we’re finding like, ‘well this is an outright violation of state election law.’ So, at that point we had to take action.”
County Administrator, Danny Jordan said the effort will cost the county $200,000 to $500,000 dollars in overhead expenses to add two county commissioners.
Krause disagrees and calls those numbers inflated. She also says she’s looking forward to this Tuesday’s (3/5/2024) Town Hall Meeting at 6 p.m. at the Medford Library, where the group can respond to the county’s financial claims.
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