Oregon counties vote to become part of Idaho

Large parts of Oregon are well on their way to becoming part of Idaho instead. Twelve Oregon counties have voted to redraw the American map and become part of Idaho.

The Greater Idaho movement was launched around 2019 and involves merging a number of counties in the state of Oregon into Idaho. The two states are largely different as Idaho is Republican while Oregon is largely governed by Democratic politics. However, several counties in primarily eastern Oregon are also largely Republican, which is why there have been efforts to merge at least these parts of the state with Idaho.

This would mean redrawing the map of the US, something that is now well underway.

In January this year, a bill was introduced in Oregon by Senator Dennis Linthicum and a number of counties in the state have now started referendums on the issue. In total, twelve out of fifteen  eastern Oregon counties have voted to investigate or begin the process of acquiring statehood, according to the Greater Idaho Movement.

The plan is for at least 17 of the 36 regions to be included in Idaho, which would mean about 62 percent of the state’s land area, but only nine percent of its population. It would, however, increase the population of Idaho by about 21 percent.