filing a Measure

Requirements for Filing a County or District Measure

For city measures, contact your city manager.

Before filing a county or district measure with Benton County Elections Office, the filing officer must insure the following conditions have been met:

BALLOT TITLE
The ballot title must be a concise and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure.
Ballot Title Review Process: The Elections office publishes ballot titles in a newspaper with general circulation in the area of the district filing the measure. Anyone who feels the ballot title does not comply with the filing requirements has seven business days in which to contest the wording of the ballot title.

Finding the proper wording for your tax measure is important. A useful handbook to use when writing tax measure is the Tax Election Ballot Measures: A Guide to Writing Ballot Measures for Property Taxing Authority, published by the Oregon Department of Revenue. Please refer to it before submitting your measure.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
The explanatory statement must be a simple, understandable, impartial statement, which explains the measure and its effect. This is required only when a County Voters' Pamphlet is printed. There is no cost for this filing.

Explanatory Statement Review Process: If an explanatory statement is contested because it does not comply with the requirements above, the following process will be observed:

A date and time will be set for the person contesting the explanatory statement to appear before the Manager of Records and Elections. Both sides will be given one-half hour to present their side of the issue. The Manager of Records and Elections will determine if and or how the wording of the statement should be changed.

NOTE TO CITIES
Cities must also show proof that they have complied with all laws relating to required publications and challenged processes at the time of filing.

Filing Deadlines

Filing Forms

Filing forms must be typed or typed information attached to form.

The forms below are in fillable pdf format. The pdf form can be viewed using Adobe Acrobat© Reader, which may be downloaded for free. You may complete the form on your computer by tabbing through the fields and filling in the appropriate information. You may also download by selecting "Save As.." and save it to a location on your computer.

Once the forms have been completed, print them for submission either in person or by mail. An original signature is required. The forms are also available at Elections Office 120 NW 4th St Room 13, Corvallis, OR 97330.