Your Vote Matters – Please Use It!
The Cycling Center has five recommendations for you this election season:
1. Vote! Wherever you are, and whatever you believe, please make your voice heard! Important issues and contested races are on the ballot in Oregon and elsewhere, and we urge everyone who is eligible to participate by casting a ballot. If you are in Oregon, you should have received your ballot by now. If you haven’t, contact your county elections office. The sooner you cast it, the better! And if you are unsure about some of the issues and races… read up and ask your friends, because ALL of the races matter!
2. Vote NO on Oregon statewide measure 105. Measure 105 would throw out Oregon’s existing anti-racial profiling law. This law passed with broad support from Republicans and Democrats and has been protecting Oregonians from unfair racial profiling for more than 30 years.
3. Vote YES on Metro measure 26-199. Measure 26-199 is an affordable housing bond that will create safe, permanently affordable housing for thousands of people across Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties.
4. Vote YES on City of Portland measure 26-201. This measure, known as the Portland Clean Energy Initiative, will raise $30 million in new annual revenue for clean energy and clean energy jobs in Portland. Funds will be used to weatherize homes, install solar and other renewable energy projects, provide job and contractor training, expand local food production and build green infrastructure in Portland. The revenue is raised by a new 1% business licensing surcharge on the Portland revenue generated by retail corporations with over $1 billion in annual revenue.
5. If you have time and the ability, volunteer to knock on doors or make calls for these or other campaigns. At the least, talk to your friends! Your help might make the difference!
As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Cycling Center is not allowed to endorse candidates or parties, but we are allowed to take positions on issues, including legislation and ballot measures. We focus mainly on changing lives through bicycles one at a time, but we have made a decision to take political positions when issues make a direct impact on communities we serve, and/or when our close partner organizations such as OPAL Environmental Justice, Verde, Oregon Walks, and the Getting There Together Coalition are taking leadership roles and could use our support. These issues all meet those criteria and mean a lot to us — so get out there and vote!