deanna swenson and jason short.JPG

Deanna Swenson, a former Clackamas County elections employee pictured with her attorney, Jason Short, pleaded guilty to ballot tampering last year. Officials want to add civil elections violations to the list of violations that would disqualify people from working as signature gatherers.

(Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian)

Oregon law currently allows people with prior elections violations to work as signature gatherers.

Lawmakers want to change that during the February legislative session with a bill that received its first airing Wednesday in the interim

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who have knowingly made a false statement about petitions, offered payment for signatures, circulated imitation ballots, used threats to obtain signatures or committed other such violations from working as signature gatherers.

Current law disqualifies people convicted of fraud, forgery or identity theft from working as signature gatherers. The proposed legislation would expand that list to include civil elections violations.

The legislation, still in draft form, would also make several minor tweaks to elections laws. One proposed change would allow voters to show their ballot to another person. That provision is essentially unenforceable now, especially as people increasingly share photos of marked ballots on Facebook and other social media platforms.

"We're viewing this as a housekeeping measure," said Tony Green, spokesman for the Oregon Secretary of State's office. "We're not trying to make any substantive or remotely controversial changes."

Restrictions on signature gatherers largely didn't exist two decades ago but have slowly been instituted over time. In 2002, voters passed a ballot measure prohibiting pay-for-signature petitioning in the wake of charges that some petitioners had forged hundreds of signatures as a way to make quick money.

An

the Oregon Secretary of State's office levied against the chief petitioner of a marijuana legalization measure for violating the state's law against paying petitioners by the signature.

Election fraud, however, is a rare occurrence in Oregon, with only two convictions last year, Green said. In one high-profile case, former Clackamas County elections worker

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In the other case, a

offering to buy blank ballots for $20 each.

-- Yuxing Zheng