Voters in five rural Oregon counties on Tuesday voted to secede from the state and join Idaho after two other counties voted in favor of the move last year, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.
The ballot measures called on each county to start considering plans for the move prompted by the “Greater Idaho” movement, which hopes to break off parts of Oregon and California to expand the state of Idaho.
Activists behind the plot are opposed to Oregon’s Democratic-led policies, which they say ignore the views of the far more conservative rural areas in the state.
"This is why Oregon passes laws that kill industries in eastern, central, and southern Oregon,” the group’s website says. “They don't protect us from rioters, forest arsonists, or school curricula that teach kids to hate Americans and Americanism. And they pass laws that violate our conscience. We can't let our money support their system anymore. We are outnumbered, we don't have leverage, and things will continue to get worse.”
Not actually going to happen:
The counties -- Lake, Grant, Baker, Malheur, Union, Sherman, and Jefferson -- join a growing movement of failed secession efforts across the US as activists in California, Texas, and the Northeast have pushed for similar dubious maneuvers.
In order for the plan to work, both the Oregon and Idaho state legislatures and the US Congress would need to sign off. None of those legislatures have expressed an interest in doing so.
All seven counties overwhelmingly backed Donald Trump in the 2020 election while President Joe Biden carried the entire state of Oregon with 57% of the vote.
Not just Idaho:
Activists in Texas have pushed to break away from the United States and form their own country.
The Calexit campaign, launched after Scotland’s failed bid to leave the UK after Brexit, also seeks to break away from the US. A separate Cal-3 plan aims to break the state into three different states.
Virginia activists and West Virginia lawmakers are pushing to admit Frederick County in Northwestern Virginia into West Virginia.
