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End of supermajority in Salem a positive outcome By Gary Nelson By Mail Tribune Editorial Board Nov 13, 2022 12:00 AM A A While much of the country is focused on which party will control the U.S. Congress, a subtle but significant shift has taken place in the Oregon Legislature. Thanks to a change in state law allowing mail-in ballots to be postmarked as late as election day, the final results still are not known (more on that in a moment). But it appears Republicans have picked up two seats in the Oregon Senate and an equal number in the House. If those results hold up when all the votes are counted, the GOP will still be in the minority, but Democrats will no longer enjoy the supermajority they have held since the last election. That was less than Republican strategists had hoped for. The party believed voter discontent with crime, homelessness, inflation and the unpopular administration of outgoing Gov. Kate Brown might be enough to give them control of at least one chamber. Still, Republicans succeeded in taking away the supermajority in both chambers. That means Democrats can no longer pass any bill they wish, including tax increases, without a single Republican vote. That’s a good thing. While Democrats outnumber Republicans statewide, large swaths of the state are staunchly Republican, and those Oregonians have felt not just left out but ignored as the Democratic majority advanced its agenda at will. The only weapon left to Republicans was to walk out and deny the Democrats the quorum they needed to conduct business. That’s no way to run a state, and it hardly fosters public confidence in government. Speaking of public confidence, the final results of close races won’t be known until at least some time later this week, because a new state law allowed ballots postmarked as late as Election Day to be counted, as long as they arrive at county elections departments within seven days. We opposed that change as unnecessary when it was first proposed. Oregonians have been voting by mail for two decades, knowing that their ballots must arrive by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. Multiple secure drop boxes are conveniently located for those who procrastinate. The state has already picked up the cost of return postage for those who prefer to mail their ballot. Voting in Oregon was already easier than in many other parts of the country. The later deadline simply guarantees that the outcome of close races won’t be known for days or weeks, dragging out the election and giving those who doubt the integrity of the process an excuse to question it without evidence that anything is amiss. Eventually, the final results will be known, and lawmakers can go to work. We hope they are able to work together more successfully than they have in recent years.