Christian voters' impact in Oregon still under review

By JOHN FORTMEYER
CNNW publisher

The strong participation nationally of Christian voters concerned about "moral issues" was one of the big news items of last month's election. But the extent to which the Christian vote influenced outcomes in Oregon is still open to debate.

While Oregon's Measure 36, the constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman, passed by a comfortable 54 to 46 percent margin, the state otherwise saw no major trend in voting toward more politically conservative positions. Yet, two leaders in the effort to get out the Christian vote in Oregon told Christian News Northwest they believe overall participation by evangelicals did noticeably increase this time.

"I was encouraged by what I saw," said Tim Nashif of the Defense of Marriage Coalition, which sponsored Measure 36. "One thing I saw was more pastors and church leaders engaged than ever before."

Still recovering from a serious bicycling accident that sidelined him in the last weeks before the election, David Crowe of Lake Oswego-based Restore America, which seeks to bolster Christian voting, said he had no firm statistics on election participation by the faith community.

But Crowe agrees with Nashif that more pastors and churches got involved.

"My sense from feedback before the election was that there were still a lot of backward churches that would not allow their pastors to say anything or even allow voter registration," he said. "But the good thing is that a lot of churches did hold voter registration and pastors spoke up."

Unfortunately, he added, few churches would say anything about the presidential race for fear of threatening their tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service.

Nashif said there's "no doubt" that the presence of Measure 36 on the ballot drew a greater turnout of voters statewide. But he said it was really a "non-partisan issue" that probably had less of an effect on the presidential race in Oregon, where John Kerry still prevailed, than it did in the other 10 states that also had measures on the ballot to block same-sex marriage.

The final vote tally on Measure 36 was 1.026 million in favor, and 786,871 against. It won in 34 of Oregon's 36 counties, losing only in Multnomah and Benton counties.

"From the beginning of the campaign to the end we always had a lead," said Nashif. This despite the fact that Measure 36 opponents outspent the Defense of Marriage Coalition more than 2 to 1 in the campaign. Nashif said opponents put out $3.5 million, while the coalition spent $1.7 million.

In the vote breakdown according to age, Measure 36 failed only among younger voters. Those from 18 to 35 years old voted against the measure by a percentage of 54 to 46 percent. Those aged 35 to 54 favored Measure 36 by 59 to 41 percent, and those older than 55 approved it by 66 to 34 percent.

Nashif said the outcome among younger voters is a "big concern" long-range for the coalition.

"Parents have a responsibility to educate their children on these issues," he said. "But that age group is not locked in stone as far as how they are going to vote in the future. They can be educated on that particular issue (of gay marriage). When arguments are presented to them on both sides, we win, in our opinion. "But it won't help us if churches do not recognize that young people need to be educated on these social concerns. How often does your church youth group talk about these key social issues?"

Nashif was impressed by the strong participation of young voters in the election. "I saw thousands of young people involved for the first time in the political arena," he said. "It's very healthy for the future."

Nashif said the church's primary work in the community is always evangelism, expressing Christ's love and compassion to people and leading them to eternal life. Political activity is not normally to be a priority for the church, he said, but as long as political issues arise that could limit the church's ability to influence society, Christians absolutely must be ready to respond and to educate voters on those issues.

He added that the Defense of Marriage Coalition will stay intact as long as needed.

"We want to make sure that there's no legislation that affects marriage adversely," he said.