Pernsteiner votes in Lane County. Let’s stop that.

12/5/2011: Please read this and consider joining in by sending the email below.

The Oregon statutes on determining voting residence state

(3) An elections official may consider, but is not limited to considering, the following factors in determining residency of a person for voter registration purposes:
(a) Where the person receives personal mail;
(b) Where the person is licensed to drive;
(c) Where the person registers motor vehicles for personal use;
(d) Where any immediate family members of the person reside;
(e) The address from which the person pays for utility services; and
(f) The address from which the person files any federal or state income tax returns.

OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner owns a house in Portland (OUS gives him a $26,000 housing allowance for it) and he spends most of his working time at his office at PSU.

But he votes in Lane County. He’s been doing this since 2004 – apparently it’s part of the pretense that he is using the state owned Treetops mansion in Eugene as his “actual residence.” I’m no lawyer, but I believe in Oregon it’s a felony to make a false statement on a voter registration card:

Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown came down hard about voter fraud in the Oregonian last year:

… Perhaps the greatest deterrents are the penalties for a Class C felony. That’s the crime when someone ineligible casts a ballot, votes under a false name, forges a signature on a ballot envelope or falsely registers to vote. If they do manage to get by our security checks, the Oregon Department of Justice will prosecute and then we’re talking five years in prison, a $125,000 fine and, when appropriate, deportation.

In March I filed a complaint with Lane County Elections, asking them to investigate the legality of Pernsteiner’s Lane County registration. Pernsteiner hired attorney Bill Gary to defend him. Gary eventually produced this letter in defense of his client and they dismissed the complaint.

I think that substantial new questions have been raised about the extent of time that Pernsteiner spends at Treetops, whether or not any immediate family members live there, and whether or not it is honestly “his primary residence and the place to which he intends to return” as his attorney claimed in March.

I’d like to hear Chancellor Pernsteiner make those statements under oath. You can help. I have asked Lane County to reopen the investigation, and if you would like support this effort, please copy and paste and email (or mail) this message:

[email protected]
Lane County Elections 
Supervisor Roxanne Marshall 
275 W 10th Ave
Eugene OR 97401

Dear Ms Marshall:

This is a request that you investigate whether or not OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner meets the tests under Oregon Law to vote in Lane County Elections, and whether or not he has made false statements on Oregon Voter Registration cards.

I ask you to obtain copies of Chancellor Pernsteiner’s calendar and travel logs from his Chief of Staff, and to obtain sworn testimony from him regarding the tests of residence that apply under Oregon law.

Sincerely, 
…

Feel free to cc me at [email protected] so I can keep a tally.