Current News

At least $1 billion from anonymous donors is flowing into the midterm elections. Dark money is not new, but it now permeates nearly every major contest.

About $1 billion in anonymous contributions is coursing through midterm races across the country. Figuring out where the funds are coming from is no easy task.

Two candidates are chasing them while a third rejects them outright.

The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to order a new, independent review of all gathered signatures.

The chief petitioners are demanding a recount of the signatures.

A campaign finance proposal being prepared for a possible 2028 Oregon ballot could change how corporations and other organizations spend money in elections

The proposal uses a playbook, growing nationwide, that could test how far states can go to rein in big spending in politics.

How did corporate money end up flooding political campaigns? We take a look at the Supreme Court’s many decisions that brought us to 2010’s Citizens United ruling.

As citizens have increasingly employed their powers to make or change law, state officials have used a variety of tactics to make doing so more difficult.

A fight over a controversial police funding measure could be headed to the court after the initiative fell 6,000 signatures short of making it onto the ballo...

The Portland City Elections office announced Tuesday that backers of the Enhanced Community Safety initiative did not submit enough valid signatures.

A ballot initiative that sought to direct 25 percent of Portland’s Clean Energy Fund toward hiring additional police officers failed to gather enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot. The Portland City Auditor’s Office, which houses Portland’s Elections Division, confirmed Tuesday afternoon that after sampling and verification, the number of qualified signatures for […]

Nearly 100 Portlanders file complaints of being misled or lied to over a ballot measure that would divert Portland’s climate funds toward hiring more police officers.

The proposed ballot measure will not go in front of city voters in November.

The initiative seeking to reroute 25% of Portland Clean Energy Fund tax revenues to hiring some 400 police officers has failed to qualify for the November ballot. The initiative previously failed to qualify in its first sample. It has now failed the second and final sample.

The complaint alleges that canvassers repeatedly failed to carry a copy of the ballot initiative’s complete text and falsely stated that the measure would hire mental health responders and 911 dispatchers.

Only one citizen petition is on track for the November ballot, a drop from previous election cycles.

It’s time to establish equal voting rights for nonaffiliated voters, write leaders of an initiative petition who will now seek legislative help opening primaries.

House Bill 16, which would reimpose limits on donations to candidates, may pre-empt a measure already scheduled for an August vote.

Just how deep the antipathy — in Oregon at least — toward both major political parties actually is, may be tested seriously in this year’s elections. The test may not involve outright wins and losses, but the percentages will be worth watching. What’s new is the changed electoral strategy of the Independent Party of Oregon, […]

Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill that makes changes to campaign finance, angering advocacy groups who say they will put their own plan to voters in 2028.

Using philanthropy for campaign donations is illegal. But an exception for some nonprofits has allowed Democratic billionaires like Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg to remain anonymous when they want to play politics.

Oregon private equity executive John von Schlegell recently filed a barrage of ballot measures designed to imprint his pro-sprawl, anti-tax agenda permanently into the Oregon const

Mailboxes and airwaves are alive with ads pushing for and against specific candidates.But even though transparency in campaigns is supposed to be a core tenet, you only get to know who is financing the efforts on some of them.That’s because nonprofit organizations run by shadowy people and funded in darkness are running many of the ads. That’s different than if a candidate’s committee or political action committee does the same thing. Funders of the latter are public and open to examination.

Letters to the Editor can be submitted to [email protected] with full name and place of residence.

Letters to the Editor can be submitted to [email protected] with full name and place of residence.

The contribution is by far the largest to any candidate for governor this year.

“This is a very painful choice to make," one Democratic lawmaker said ahead of a key vote Tuesday.

Lawmakers have promised to further refine the law next year, after key provisions go into effect.

State leaders have warned Oregon is at risk botching its new campaign finance law. Some lawmakers acknowledge the bill they passed to fix it still needs work.