She argued that the ballot title wasn’t clear that “virtually all Oregonians” could sue grocery stores that have more than two self-checkout kiosks.

“The ballot title process, which we were just in, is about making sure, if the measure actually gets on the ballot, that the words that describe it accurately reflect what the measure’s going to do,” said McDonough in an interview Wednesday. “…And we’re going to wait to see if it makes it on ballot. And if it does, then we’ll assess what we’re going to do about it. But from our perspective, this is really about what consumers want.”

Evan Christopher, a lawyer for Gilliam, echoed similar concerns about potential lawsuits in a letter to the Secretary of State’s elections division last fall.

“Voters must be informed that (the initiative petition) permits every employee who complains about a self-checkout and is later terminated or demoted or given a different work schedule to call his or her employer into court on a claim of retaliation,” Christopher wrote. “Every customer who files a complaint about a self-checkout machine and is later asked to leave the same store — for whatever reason — would have the same claim.”

Reporter Claire Withycombe: cwithycombe@eomediagroup.com or 971-304-4148

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