Beth Geiser, a Newberg resident, told the Yamhill County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 4 that local volunteers collected roughly 10,734 signatures for a statewide gas tax referendum. She said the county ran 12 pop-up tents and 10 fixed signing locations, and that signature gathering began Nov. 14; she added that on the first weekend her teams collected 1,661 signatures locally.

Geiser placed the local effort in a statewide context, saying organizers had gathered "well over 175,000 signatures" when only about 78,000 were required statewide. "We showed up in a really, really big way," she said, describing the petition as a bipartisan effort and saying she spoke with "Democrats, Republicans, Independents" who opposed the tax because they did not want to "lose their money."

The county chair acknowledged Geiser's report and moved on to other agenda items. Board members did not take any formal action during public comment on the petition itself. The county clerk and election offices handle verification and qualification for ballot measures; Geiser's figures reflect organizer counts reported to the commissioners during the public comment period.