Ballot Battle Over Police Funding | Portland News

A high-stakes legal battle is unfolding in Portland over a ballot initiative that would redirect 25% of the Clean Energy Fund to hire more police officers. Petitioners, behind the “Safer Portland” campaign, are suing election officials after their petition—submitted with over 63,000 signatures—was rejected as falling short of the required 40,437. Officials claim only 34,130 valid signatures were found, largely due to invalid or unregistered signers. But plaintiffs argue thousands of valid signatures were tossed out arbitrarily—on flimsy grounds like mismatched handwriting or date errors—and demand a federal judge order an independent review to restore their measure to the November ballot. The case pits claims of voter disenfranchisement against official assertions that most rejections involved ineligible voters, with both sides locked in a tense legal showdown that could decide whether this controversial police funding proposal even gets a vote. Listen in comfort:Get a discount on a Soli Pillow: http://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN:[email protected] This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting.Report issues to [email protected]. View sources & latest updates:https://sources.thednn.ai/418b03452c5fa03a