PRINEVILLE, OR -- Organizers of the Greater Idaho Movement are frustrated Crook County Commissioners aren't doing more to correct an error made by the County Clerk. As KBND reported last week, two arguments in favor of Measure 7-86 were omitted from Crook County’s voters pamphlet. County Clerk Cheryl Seely recently explained to County Commissioners how the statements were inadvertently left out, "Those all I submit in a bundled packet, they all go in, I missed two of them. I don’t know what happened, but- they were some of my early submittals. So, I have two that didn’t make it." Both of the missing arguments were submitted by members of the Greater Idaho Movement. Seely says she called the Secretary of State’s office and learned there’s no way to reissue the voters pamphlet. She told Commissioners she was told, "We are under no obligation to do anything, other than put a corrective statement or something on our website. And we’re actually not even under an obligation for that."

Seely considered asking the local paper to print a correction. The Greater Idaho Movement has asked the county to issue a supplemental page and mail it to every household. Commissioner Seth Crawford prefers the latter, "I think we should do all of them again, just for fairness. I think the paper is great; but it doesn’t reach even a small portion that you would with a direct mailer." But Seely says a direct mailer would cost at least $4,600 and it wouldn't fit all 13 arguments. It's tax money Commissioner Susan Hermreck doesn't want to spend, "I do appreciate a person’s voice. I do appreciate that it should be on the voters’ thing. But $4,600 kind of sticks in my craw a bit." Commissioner Brian Barney agreed, noting the measure wasn't the work of the Greater Idaho Movement "This was an advisory question that the board put up, that they didn’t put up. They weren’t out seeking signatures, they have no work effort in it, and one of the stipulations for when this was put on- that the county wasn’t going to be responsible for any additional funding of any sort."

Crawford disagrees, "If it wasn’t our mistake and they turned it in late and they weren’t able to get their information in, that’s one thing. But the fact that we, as the county, were the ones that missed it, that’s where I think it’s different."

The Movement's Executive Director issued a statement Monday, saying in part, "Through no fault of our own, our organization and it's supporters have had their political voice minimized and harmed." Matt McCaw went on to say, "While we understand that mistakes happen, the county has a duty to treat everybody fairly, and where their errors have caused that to not happen, they should remedy the situation in a way that's acceptable to those who've been harmed.  This is a very important vote happening in Crook County, and mistakes made by the county can not be allowed to impact the results.  We continue to call on Crook County to mail a supplemental to voters so that our supporters get the same reach and voice that our opposition was given."

Commissioner Hermreck is satisfied by the press release issued by Seely and the inclusion of all arguments for and against the measure on the Clerk's website, "I just feel that a corrective statement is the way to go, because I would rather spend the $4,600 and have it [directly] help somebody."

Of the 13 arguments received by the Clerk's Office on Measure 7-86, nine are opposed and four are in favor.