by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News May 24, 2024
Crook County residents on Tuesday voted to approve the "Greater Idaho Measure" which would see the county secede from Oregon and become part of Idaho.
Measure 7-86, as it was known, passed with 53 percent of the vote.
Thirteen Oregon counties have now voted in favor of the measure to bail from Oregon, which is dominated in its legislature by leftists and supporters of the woke mob.
Previously, Jackson, Klamath, Lake, Harney, Malheur, Baker, Grant, Wheeler, Jefferson, Wallowa, Union and Morrow counties had approved Greater Idaho measures.
Organizers behind the Greater Idaho movement say east Oregonians are being alienated by the state's progressive policies which they blame for high crime rates. They claim a move to Idaho would allow residents to take advantage of lower taxation and provide better representation and governance.
"The Oregon/Idaho line was established 163 years ago and is now outdated," the movement's website states. "It makes no sense in its current location because it doesn't match the location of the cultural divide in Oregon."
The Greater Idaho movement says it wants an economy "that is not held back by Oregon regulations and taxes, including environmental regulations. We’ll still have federal and Idaho regulations, and that’s plenty. Idaho knows how to respect rural counties and their livelihoods."
Idaho counties have yet to cast their votes for the measure, but in February 2023, the state’s House of Representatives approved a bill that would allow legislators from both states to formerly discuss a Greater Idaho.
In order to secede, the state legislatures of both Oregon and Idaho would need to approve the measure, and then the US Congress would also need to approve.
State borders have been redrawn in the past — including the territory of Maine becoming a state independent of Massachusetts in 1820 — but never before has a large swath of land and citizens seceded to join another state.
