Oregon Public Broadcasting

The federal courthouse in downtown Portland will be buzzing this morning as Judge Michael Mosman hears arguments surrounding Oregon’s new Domestic Partnership law.

Legislators passed this in 2007 -- the law itself is not in question. At issue is a challenge to the law that fell flat.

Confused? Kristian Foden-Vencil has been following the story and joins us live in the studio.

Good morning Kristian.

Kristian: Good Morning

April: So, the Domestic Partnership Law was supposed to become law January 1st this year. Judge Mosman put it on hold for this very hearing.   Can you explain exactly what the new law does?

Kristian: In a nutshell, domestic partnerships would give gay and lesbian couples most of the legal rights enjoyed by married couples. For example, they could bequeath and inherit property from each other; make medical decisions for each other; and file joint tax returns.

On the other hand, as a contract, they will also have to go to court to dissolve their relationship or to deal with child support.

So it’s very similar to a marriage. It’s just called a domestic partnership instead.

April: So, an opposition group gathered about 55,000 signatures to put a measure on the ballot last November. It would have asked voters to ban the law. What happened?

Kristian. Well,   The measure fell short by 96 signatures.  The challengers actually offered a few more than that, but
signature checkers working at the secretary of state’s office, threw out a number of names – based on a statistical sampling of the signature sheets.

April:   Huh?

Kristian:  The state checks each name and signature handed in for ballot measure petitions – like they do in an actual election.   Elections officials say that would be too expensive.

Instead, they randomly pull out names and check the signatures. If 95 percent of those signatures are right, then 95 percent of the petitions will count. If only 50 percent of the signatures are right, then 50 percent of signatures count.
Judge Mosman is basically going to be looking at whether that’s a fair way of doing things.

April: What are some of the reasons why sigs get tossed?

Kristian: Not everyone who signs a signature gatherer’s sheet wants to pass the law in question. Some people might be signing just to avoid a discussion or for fun – and they might use a fake name.

Similarly, and this has happened, the gatherers themselves might pad their sheets with names and addresses.

April:    So, depending on what he decides, what might he do?

Kristian: Well that’s the big question.

He could decide the system is working fine and let the new domestic partnership law go into effect. He could decide the referendum signatures need to be counted again. Or he could decide the referendum should have happened – and give opponents another chance to collect signatures.

Nobody knows -- it’s really anyone’s guess.

April:  Thank you.  Kristian Foden-Vencil joined us live in our Portland studios.