Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Oregon activists prepare to put marriage equality on the ballot

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' OR Ballot: Exciting news! Activists in Oregon have begun a drive to put same-sex marriage legalization on the ballot in the Beaver State for the 2014 elections. What makes this effort unusual is that if it's successful, Oregon would be the first state to overturn a constitutional ban on gay marriage, which voters approved by over 13 points in 2004. But obviously, the landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade, and a recent PPP poll shows sentiment completely reverses, with Oregonians now approving of marriage equality at a 54-40 clip.

In any event, organizers need to first submit 1,000 signatures in order to undergo a preliminary review by the Secretary of State. Once that passes muster, they'll need an additional 116,284 signatures'and remember, Oregon is home to fewer than four million people, so we're talking something like 3 percent of the entire population here (and more than that for registered voters). The push will be spearheaded by a group called Oregon United for Marriage, under the auspices of another organization, Basic Rights Oregon. They will certainly have a lot of work ahead of them in the months to come, as opponents are already gearing up to thwart this effort, but after last year's successes at the ballot box in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, the momentum is firmly on the side of the good guys this time.