Lane County voters had the chance to remove three sections of outdated language from the county’s governing document during this month’s election.
Preliminary results show voters rejected two of the proposed repeals: One that would have removed an unenforceable spending limit, and another that would have deleted rules for an income tax the county has never collected.
Voters did approve repealing restrictions on East Alton Baker Park, which the county no longer owns.
Charter Committee Member Morgan Munro said some Lane County voters may have felt they didn’t understand the measures enough to support them, or make any decision at all.
“When you see an undervote of 40,000 people, I think that really does speak to the complexity of the issue, the length of the ballot, and really how much voters had on their mind when they were voting this year,” Munro said.
Nearly 25% of voters left that section blank. In contrast, fewer than 1% of Lane County voters didn’t select a presidential candidate.
Munro said the charter review committee makes recommendations every 10 years, and a previous committee also recommended the two financial provisions be repealed.
She said it's possible, when the committee reviews the charter again in 2031, it may ask the county commissioners to send the same two measures back to voters again.
Voters also rejected another charter amendment introduced by an outside party that would have overhauled the county’s redistricting process and triggered new election maps in 2026.
