(FreedomBeacon.com)- Five rural counties in eastern Oregon have voted to consider succeeding from their state and joining neighboring Idaho instead.
Voters in the rural counties — Lake, Baker, Grant, Sherman and Malheur counties — all voted to approve a measure that requires officials in the county to try to get Idaho to move its border to the west so that their populations would be incorporated in it, rather than in Oregon.
The eastern part of Oregon, before the Cascade Mountains is much more conservative. Much of the rest of Oregon, especially the far west, is very liberal.
In the 2020 presidential election, President Joe Biden took Oregon with 56% of the vote compared to Donald Trump’s 40%. In the five counties that voted to move to Idaho, Trump won anywhere from 69% to 79% of the vote.
With these five new counties voting to join Idaho, that makes seven total in eastern Oregon that don’t want to be part of the state anymore. Voters in both Union and Jefferson counties voted to do the same last year.
This movement is being backed by a group that’s called Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho. Not only does it want to expand Idaho’s border to the west, it wants it to move south as well to encompass additional Northern California counties.
The person heading the group, Mike McCarter, said:
“This election proves that rural Oregon wants out of Oregon. If Oregon really believes in liberal values such as self-determination, the Legislature won’t hold our counties captive against our will. If we’re allowed to vote for which government officials we want, we should be allowed to vote for which government we want as well.”
The ballot initiative in Sherman County requires commissioners in the county to promote trying to realign the two states’ borders. In the other counties that approved the measure, the initiatives require their commissioners to meet frequently to discuss the potential of shifting the state lines.
These seven counties aren’t the potentially final tally of voters who want to move out of Oregon. Two more counties will vote on measures that are similar to this in the future.
Harney County is east of the mountains, while Douglas County is all the way on Oregon’s coast.
Just because people in those counties have voted to move out of Oregon doesn’t mean it will actually happen, though. To adjust the state lines, the state legislature would have to approve it, and that is controlled soundly by the liberals.
If Oregon’s legislature were to approve the move, then it would have to reach an agreement with Idaho. Finally, if both states come to an agreement, then the U.S. Congress would have to agree to the re-alignment of state borders.
In its entire history, the U.S. Congress has only approved changing state lines three times.
In 1792, Kentucky was created by taking land that used to be part of Virginia. The same thing was done in 1820 when Maine was created by taking away from Massachusetts.
In 1863, West Virginia was created during the Civil War because counties that supported the Union didn’t want to be part of the Confederacy in Virginia.
