Update: Nov. 11, 3:13 p.m. The petition for this ballot measure has been withdrawn after overwhelming positive and negative responses.

Two days after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, two Portlanders have submitted a petition for a 2018 ballot initiative to have Oregon secede from the United States.

On Thursday morning, Jennifer Rollins, a lawyer, and Christian Trejbal, a writer, filed the Oregon Secession Act.

"Oregonian values are no longer the values held by the rest of the United States," Trejbal said over the phone Thursday.

Those values? "Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness," Trejbal said, "plus equality."

"Obviously," he said, the ballot proposal "came about partially in response to the election results on Tuesday."

"But," he added, "it's been developing over time."

Trejbal said that he and Rollins are hoping to start a serious conversation in Oregon about what it would mean to peacefully leave the United States. They opted for 2018 to give Oregonians some time to really think about what seceding from the union would mean.

Some Californians have already expressed interest in seceding and the language of the Oregon proposal includes the option to bring other states into a "Constitutional Convention."

Trejbal said that joining forces with other states like Washington, California and Nevada is "a viable way to go forward."

These states, he said, "could all get together and form a nation that uphold the values that we share."

To start the ballot title drafting process, the Oregon Secession Act must receive 1,000 signatures. Trejbal said he and Rollins would be at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland on Thursday night to begin the process of getting those signatures.

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker