(Portland, OR) -- Oregon is set to take part in a simultaneous nationwide reading of the Declaration of Independence this afternoon. A group of a dozen local leaders will read the document aloud in the Oregon Historical Society's research library starting at 3 p.m. The speakers include Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Meagan Flynn, former Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and Secretary of State Tobias Read. The nationwide reading was organized to mark the day that the document was first read aloud on July 8th of 1776. The effort spans 95-hundred miles and nine time zones. It comes in honor of America's 250th anniversary.