Election office receives liquor petitions
Petitions are trickling in at the election office asking for legal liquor in the city of McMinnville to be put on the November ballot.
According to Election Administrator Donna Yates, petitions bearing the names of 65 persons had been received by the election office as of Thursday. A total of 215 signatures of registered city voters are required to put the question on the ballot. Deadline to meet the goal is Sept. 6.
In 2000, pro-liquor supporters slid in under the deadline, submitting the final number of required signatures one day before the deadline. The initiative was defeated by 10 votes that year, marking the closest legal liquor has ever come to passing in referendum. The results came after Citizens for a Safer Community campaigned hard against legal liquor while the pro-liquor movement reported spending no money in support of its cause.
Yates said she understands several petitions are circulating around the city and expects more petitions to be filed as the deadline grows closer. Yates noted those circulating petitions should be sure to get the petitions in before deadline so the names can be confirmed. It is also a good idea, Yates said, to get extra names in case some are disqualified.
If legal liquor makes it to the ballot, voters here will likely be voting on three separate referendums including a local sales tax initiative in the city and a state lottery. The referendums will be held in concert with the federal, state and local elections Nov. 5.