Crook County voters appears in favor of moving the Idaho border to include their county, according to early returns in Tuesday’s primary.

The question before voters, Measure 7-86, asked if elected officials should affirm that residents support efforts to move the Idaho state border to include Crook County. Preliminary results suggest the measure has passed with 53% of the vote.

“We’re pleased,” said Matt McCaw, a Powell Butte resident and executive director of the Greater Idaho movement. “We expected to do well in Crook County because it’s largely conservative. We think that number could have been bigger … There were a lot of headwinds going against this, but the people of Crook County have spoken.”

Crook County would become the 13th county in Eastern Oregon to pass a measure in support of moving the Idaho border. However, Measure 7-86 is nonbinding and nonlegislative, meaning it will not compel any action by the county regardless of the outcome of the vote.

Should the measure pass when official counts are certified, it simply means voters support elected officials telling state and federal officials that Crook County residents support negotiations to relocate the Oregon-Idaho border.

Those who support Measure 7-86 argue that rural Crook County residents — who tend to be more conservative than residents in metropolitan areas of the state — would feel more accurately represented by Idaho’s largely conservative Legislature rather than Oregon’s Democratic Legislature, which has had a Democratic majority in recent years.

Those who oppose Measure 7-86, cite the negative social and economic impacts that such a change could have on residents who chose to live in Oregon and not Idaho for a reason. Of chief concern was the two states’ different approaches to reproductive rights.

State Voters’ Pamphlet omission

Measure 7-86 was the only ballot measure in Crook County this election cycle that qualified for public arguments to be included in the state Voters’ Pamphlet. However, earlier this month, Crook County Clerk Cheryl Seely revealed she inadvertently omitted two arguments in favor of the ballot measure from the state Voters’ Pamphlet.

In total — including the two omitted arguments — 13 comments were submitted; four were in favor, and nine were against. All submissions can be read online at Crook County’s website.