Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton is in a lockdown May 17, 2024, after approximately 30 inmates fought at the prison.

HERMISTON — Oregonians passed Ballot Measure 112, the push to remove terms relating to slavery from the Oregon Constitution, 55.6% to 44.4%. But rural counties, including in Eastern Oregon, voted down the measure.

Baker County voters rejected the measure 71.7% to 28.3%. Union County voters rejected it 68.6% to 31.4%. Grant County voted it down 71.9% to 28.1%. Morrow County said no 72.6% to 27.4%. Umatilla County voters were against the measure 69.1% to 30.9%.

Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, said there is no disagreement that language about slavery should be out of the Oregon’s constitution.

“Slavery, yes, should have been out. It’s out everywhere else,” he said.

But there was a concern the measure went too far in removing other wording.

“It was the phrase on servitude and how that would affect law enforcement and corrections,” he said, such as the use of inmate work crews and even in the framework of sentencing. And those were concerns the law enforcement community raised.

Jason Myers, executive director of the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association, voiced opposition to the measure in the state’s voters’ guide.

“Oregon Sheriffs do not condone or support slavery and/or involuntary servitude in any form,” according to Myers, but the measure creates unintended consequences for Oregon jails that “will result in the elimination of all reformative programs and increased costs to local jail operations.”

Measure 112 only applies to people who have been convicted, according to Myers, leaving behind people awaiting trial. And the measure offers no authority for existing programs that jails operate without an order from court, probation officer or parole officer.

Voluntary participation in jail or prison programs, which can lead adults in custody to reduce sentences, “would likely be seen as involuntary servitude” under Measure 112, according to Myers, unless there was an order from a court, probation officer or parole officer.

Making jail and prison programs “inherently coercive,” Myers continued, means inmates are going to end up serving longer sentences, sheriff’s offices will suspend reformative programs and local money will have to pay for people to work jobs adults in custody have been doing.

That opposition may have played big in rural Oregon. Hansell said rural Oregonians tend to be more supportive of law enforcement, so it makes sense local voters did not support the measure.

Umatilla County Community Corrections Director Dale Primmer agreed the biggest changes will be in jails and prisons.

“It looks like courts still have the ability to assign community service,” he said. “But what will happen in your county jails and prisons in terms of budget and capacity in the event where there’s a need for more budgeting, due to a downturn in available work in prisons?”

Sterling Cunio serves on the board of directors for Oregonians United to End Slavery, the group that spearheaded the grassroots campaign, which had a budget of less than $200,000. He said the small campaign budget limited outreach.

“If we had had the ability to sit down and talk with more people, we could have secured more votes,” he said. “A vast majority of the people we were able to talk to didn’t even know that this wording was in Oregon’s constitution.”

Angela Martin, a political consultant for Measure 112, said there also was a contrast in support for the measure between lawmakers and constituents.

“If you look at the legislators who sent this measure to the voters, more than 85% of state legislators voted to send this question to the voters,” Martin said. “This was a deeply bipartisan issue when there was an opportunity for engagement, asking questions, that’s what the legislators were able to do, and where the measure fell short with voters in rural counties.”

Morrow County District Attorney Justin Nelson said he looks forward as Oregon settles with the new policy.

“I think the public does make the right decision, but when they’re fully informed,” he said. “Maybe as we go forward, we’ll settle into this change and things will work themselves out.”

Martin said while the measure has passed in Oregon, the conversation is not over. The Election Day win created an opening for more discussion and a road map of where to go.

“This wasn’t a policy issue, this was a morality issue,” Martin said, “and our moral values are not that far apart when it comes to how we treat human beings.”