Portland Mercury Cover of the Year
Charlie Burr
Here's to the Portland Mercury.
With the January 5th registration deadline fast approaching, the Mercury has put a valid, legally-acceptable voter registration form on their cover hitting the stands tomorrow. Such a good idea. If you're in the Portland Metro area and have moved since the last election, grab a copy. Or, if you're already registered, but want to help the Bus Project's down-to-the-wire effort to register as many folks as possible for the January special election, sign up here.
The Secretary of State's office mailed out the January Special Election voters' pamphlet (pdf) today. For having only two things on the ballot, it's a hefty read. The pamphlet clocks in at 91 pages altogether.
Most of those pages are pure bickering: forty six pages of arguments in favor of the two tax measures on the ballot, twenty pages of arguments against the measures.
Also arriving in Portland today is a unique issue of the Mercury designed to fill your voting needs. Check it out! The cover doubles as your 100% legally [compliant] voter registration form.
- Register to vote! For the children!
If you've changed addresses or parties in the year since Obama won, just rip off the cover, write out your info, track down a stamp and drop it in a mailbox. Easy. Awesome. You're welcome.
Good going, Mercury! And if you have friends who need to re-register, sign 'em up.
[Update: Today is January 5, which means it's the last day to register. So get going! A special shout out here goes to the Bus Project for their hard work, including doing the leg work and paying a fair amount of advertising money to the Mercury to make the voter reg cover happen. Credit it where it's due: This was the Bus Project's baby, so great work getting creative here in the final push.]
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connect with blueoregon
Dec 30, '09
Progressive Party of Oregon
Dec 30, '09
Any pol or measure that says "for the children" is patently fraudulent. Use=abuse (or so the PC Drug Warriors would tell us). So, stop abusing children!
5:53 p.m.
Dec 30, '09
Good for the MERC! Civic minded media. WELL DONE!
7:04 p.m.
Dec 30, '09
the Merc has been top of the heap for some time now, at least imo. this is just tremendously awesome. great citizenship, great journalism. even great pop art. a win all around.
btw, where did you guys bury Matt's body? what the frack happened to him?
7:05 p.m.
Dec 30, '09
Peri, you gotta stay somewhat in touch with pop culture. "for the children" - jeez. big hipness loss for you. not to mention the lack of a sense of humor.
7:24 p.m.
Dec 30, '09
Nicely done, Merc.
Dec 30, '09
Yes using the children is absolute fraud. If you want your children to grow up in a country that is both financially and socially free tell them to vote no. Plunder by thugs or the voting public is plunder nonetheless.
10:49 p.m.
Dec 30, '09
If you want your children to grow up in a country that is both financially and socially free tell them to vote no. ... and then move your family to Somalia, where they don't have any taxes, and the educational and legal system to go with it!
Seriously? Taxes = plunder?
Dec 31, '09
voting, it's like picking between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.
Dec 31, '09
"voting, it's like picking between a giant douche and a turd sandwich."
Which two republicans are you refering too?
9:18 a.m.
Dec 31, '09
Brillant move by Merc. Hat tip to Charlie.
9:48 a.m.
Dec 31, '09
Thanks to the Secretary of State and Multnomah County Elections offices for working the Bus Project and the Mercury to make this possible! We'll look forward to seeing how many people register via this drive.
Ben Cannon
Dec 31, '09
Have to ditto Rep. Cannon. Guess I forgot to add that bit before.
1:45 a.m.
Jan 3, '10
Ben It looks like we'll be collecting some data to see whether this really worked or not. It's a nice experiment. I hear the newsprint is already causing some issues with the readers. But more info soon. As I say, neat experiment but it might not return very much ultimately.
1:52 a.m.
Jan 3, '10
Charlie, thanks for the image. I am doing some blogging on this at electionupdates.caltech.edu
Jan 4, '10
So, I think there's a deeper message in this case. M66/67 lead the Merc to raise its game. That is ironic as I was lamenting how those measures are trashing what good name this blog has. People talk about character in adversity. Character in success is pretty revealing too. Reeling from the post Obama spin, these measures have shown the management and most contributors to be shallow, cliquish, lackeys. Maybe that better aligns it with the public in the long run. Maybe we're seeing post-mortem reflexes. Time will tell.
Posted by: Scott in Damascus | Dec 31, 2009 9:09:44 AM
"voting, it's like picking between a giant douche and a turd sandwich."
Which two republicans are you refering too?
Feels more like choosing between your brother-in-law butt fucking your sister or doing it to you.
Jan 4, '10
It'll be interesting to see what the voter registration "wrap" on the Mercury does, in terms of increased voter registrations and turnout. The Bus Project decided to invest in the experiment during this special election, and can use the data to decide whether or not to do it again in later elections. Our partner up north, The Washington Bus, wrapped the Stranger for the 2008 general election and saw a decent up-tick in voter registrations because of it.
One bit of anecdotal success: While collecting cards from the big yellow boxes we placed in coffee and burrito shops around town, I head more than one person say to a friend "I guess no one can complain that they couldn't find a registration form now."
HUGE thanks to the Secretary of State's office and the county elections offices for working with us to see if this is a viable route to increasing youth civic participation. My guess is that distributing forms through local media won't be "the golden ticket" to 100% civic participation . . . but one more gateway can't hurt.
<h2>And, of course, big thanks to the Mercury staff for working closely with us during the holidays to make this whole experiment possible.</h2>