US District Court Judge Michael H. Simon denied a request to recount signatures in a failed ballot initiative that sought to redirect Portland Clean Energy Fund money to the Portland Police Bureau. The determination was handed down in an opinion issued Thursday, September 3 in response to a lawsuit filed by petitioners of the initiative.
“The City and County Defendants applied state and local election laws, rules, and standards in good faith, even-handedly, and in a politically neutral manner, all to protect the reliability and integrity of the election process,” Simon wrote in his opinion.
The lawsuit, filed by plaintiffs Bob Simril and Juanita Smartwood, contends that Portland and Multnomah County elections officials mishandled the signature verification process for the Portland Enhanced Community Safety ballot initiative, AKA the Safer Portland initiative, and potentially excluded thousands of valid signatures. Plaintiffs asked the federal court to order an independent entity, like the Secretary of State’s office, to conduct a recount of the signatures in time to make a fresh determination whether the initiative qualified for the November ballot. Thursday’s legal ruling closes the door on that possibility…