The grassroots group Greater Idaho aims to move Oregon’s border about 200 miles west, which would push most of deep blue Oregon’s 36 counties into Idaho.
The conservative group passed the measure in several counties last year… and they recruited yet another county on Tuesday.
Voters in Oregon’s Crook County approved the Greater Idaho measure Tuesday. Crook became the 13th county to join the movement.
“The voters of eastern Oregon have spoken loudly and clearly about their desire to see border talks move forward. With this latest result in Crook County, there’s no excuse left for the Legislature and Governor to continue to ignore the people’s wishes,” Greater Idaho Executive Director Matt McCaw said in a statement.
Tuesday’s election was not a vote for secession. It was closer to a vote to push Oregon lawmakers to study secession.
Measure 7-86 was called the “Crook County advisory question regarding citizen sentiment for Oregon – Idaho border relocation.” More people voted in this election than in the race for county commissioner.
The measure passed with almost 54 percent of the vote.
Idaho lawmakers have been hearing arguments about the effort as early as 2021. “There’s a longtime cultural divide as big as the Grand Canyon between northwest Oregon and rural Oregon, and it’s getting larger,” Mike McCarter, president of Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho, told Idaho lawmakers at the time.
Greater Idaho advocates have described eastern Oregon as politically similar to conservative Idaho, in contrast to liberal Portland, which dominates the state politically.
“The Oregon/Idaho line was established 163 years ago and is now outdated. It makes no sense in its current location because it doesn’t match the location of the cultural divide in Oregon,” the movement says on its website.
These 13 counties stand only a slim chance of joining Idaho. To become part of another state, they would need approval from Oregon’s legislature, Idaho’s legislature, and the U.S. Congress.
Oregon’s conservatives could sooner win a statewide election than redraw the state’s boundaries. After all, the Democrat governor won her election by only 3.4 points in 2022.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.