Bruce Hanna State Representative, District 7 House Republican Leader July 17, 2008 Senate President Peter Courtney Speaker of the House Jeff Merkley 900 Court Street NE Salem, OR 97301 President Courtney and Speaker Merkley: As you are aware, an issue quite serious in nature has developed relating to the candidacy of Mr. Jeff Duyck, the Republican nominee for the office of State Representative in House District 29. For the last several years, Mr. Duyck has been registered to vote in House District 29. He has voted in state representative elections for District 29 since the district was formed in 2001, He has been listed on voter files compiled by Washington County and the Secretary of State as an active voter of District 29. He filed to run for office in District 29 and his candidacy was certified by the Secretary of State. Moreover, he won the Republican nomination in District 29 and the Secretary of State certified him as the nominee in that district. However, through no action of the government but through a complaint filed by a concerned citizen, Mr. Duyck’s residency has been reviewed and the Secretary of State has determined he will be disqualified from the District 29 election because a small portion of the property on which he lives is actually in District 26. This is an outrage. Not because of polities and the specifies of Mr. Duyck’s particular campaign or election, but because it demonstrates that the government takes no responsibility for mistakes of this nature. What seems to have clearly been an oversight by the Legislature in 2001 led to an_ egregious mistake by elections officials; and this mistake led to erroneously counted votes in District 29 and the inability of Mr. Duyck to participate in the representative governance of District 26. ‘There is no reason for a contiguous piece of property that is wholly within one county to be split into multiple districts. ‘The purpose of this letter is not to argue the merits of this particular opinion. The complexity of redistricting is immense. While it might be understandable that this oversight — carving a handful of acres from a larger piece of property ~ might happen, understandable does not equate to acceptable. Page 1 of 2Given the Secretary of State’s ruling on this matter, I call upon you to do the only appropriate thing to right the wrongs done to Mr. Duyck, to correct a seven-year-old mistake and to allow the residents of District 29 to vote on the candidate they chose as their Republican nominee. In the future, I hope to see the Legislature exercise greater caution in drawing lines and inadvertently splitting property. In the meantime, I hope you will do the right thing and call our colleagues to Salem to amend the boundary of District 29 to include the small parcel of land on which Mr. Duyck’s house sits just feet away from the existing, arbitrary boundary dividing his property. Sincerely, Brune Conn Bruce Hanna House Republican Leader CC: Mr. Jeff Duyck House Majority Leader Dave Hunt ‘Senate Majority Leader Richard Devlin ‘Senate Minority Leader Ted Fertioli Secretary of State Bill Bradbury Page 2 of 2