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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.

7 Comments

  1. Anonymous 12/05/2011

    “you think” substantial new questions have been raised?

    “I think” you’re wasting everyone’s time.

  2. Anonymous 12/06/2011

    All he has to have is the Treetops address on his driver’s license and it will be case closed. Let’s move on to something that will actually make an impact. Pernsteiner is scum as far as I’m concerned but I think we should focus on something else.

  3. Anonymous 12/06/2011

    ditto eyes on the big stuff.

  4. UO Matters 12/06/2011

    Thanks for your comments George – we must be getting to you on this one.

    All it takes is an email friends. It can’t hurt.

  5. Anonymous 12/08/2011

    DONE! :)

    Watch KEZI interview with The Gov. uncut supposedly at )6:30 12-7.
    Saw the preview-And ‘Not my Governor’ looks disheveled, dirty jeans and all, and frankly, looks quite uncomfortable. Maybe because he KNOWS what a conflict of interest it is that he appointed this Board, who had no reason to fire President Lariviere in such a secretive and unfair way?

    ‘As Pearl the Landlady Says…’
    “I’m tired of this CRAP!”

  6. Anonymous 12/08/2011

    P.S. I know it’s hearsay but I have heard it said ‘others have occupied’ the Mansion, besides just Croissant.

    Also, you have to wonder if he egged the mansion himself, (This man only LIKES the U of O for one reason, Monday)… Or wait, I mean, Was he even in Eugene that night??? I’ve ‘heard’ he rarely stays at the mansion…His stories are convoluted…

  7. Anonymous 01/12/2012

    I suggest turning Treetops into temporary housing for visitors (particularly international visitors), as many other international universities do.

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