Battles over mail voting, Oregon gov's race

Morning Oregon!

Hopefully you got a view of the partial lunar eclipse Thursday and the full “sturgeon moon” last night (above you’ll see, arguably, Oregon’s most famous ancient fish: Herman the Sturgeon, or one of his likenesses at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery). The sturgeon moon was so-named by the indigenous Algonquian peoples who lived across the Great Lakes region, and who typically found under the August full moon the largest most abundant sturgeon in nearby waters.

Speaking of abundance, your Capital Chronicle crew provided a hefty week’s worth of news. 

The are-they-aren’t-they story in recent days has been around President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting vote-by-mail and states battling in federal court against it. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday made an administrative decision to let the order, and U.S. Postal Service rules around it, move forward, saying a lawsuit brought against Trump by state attorneys general was too preemptive and the states hadn’t yet established harm. The attorneys general, including Oregon’s, promptly sued USPS, again halting any rule changes. On Friday, however, the U.S. Department of Justice appealed. The constitutionality of Trump’s order and all it entails is likely to end up back at the Supreme Court.

Oregon officials have vowed to keep fighting the order and Trump’s attempts to restrict mail-in ballots, and said Oregon’s entirely vote-by-mail system will continue as planned through the November primary. 

Reporter Shaanth Nanguneri is our lead on all things Oregon governor’s race, and brought us several stories this week from the campaigns of incumbent Gov. Tina Kotek and her Republican challenger, state Sen Christine Drazan, including dueling ads and a high stakes effort to win over voters upset about data centers. 

In money matters, state experts called Oregon’s economy “relatively steady” in the latest revenue forecast presented to the Legislature. And Meta agreed to pay states $17.1 billion in a landmark child safety settlement. Oregon will see $125 million of that. 

Oregon’s new recycling law requiring corporations to contribute to the disposal costs of their products survived a big legal challenge, for now. But an Oregon law ensuring immigrants without legal status who live in the state are able to attend an Oregon higher education institution at the same cost as their resident peers is being challenged by the Trump administration. 

Have fun and be fire safe this weekend. The professionals trying to put out record blazes across the state are exhausted, and ongoing drought is only making conditions harder. You might instead listen to the late, great Dolly Parton’s 2023 banger “World’s on Fire.” Don’t let anyone tell you she was apolitical.