Initiatives and referendums may be placed on the ballot if their supporters gather enough signatures from Oregon voters; the number of signatures is a percentage based on the number of voters casting ballots in the most recent election for the Governor of Oregon.
Measure 37 (restricting land use regulation) was contentious before the election, and became more controversial after the fact, as state and local governments attempted to implement it.
Two other measures passed in 2004, both referred by the Legislature for the general election, and neither one drawing any opposition in the Voters' Pamphlet.
[81] Out-of-state interests spent millions of dollars supporting—and in one significant case, opposing—Oregon ballot measures.
Sizemore broke with his custom by promoting a consumer-oriented bill, which would have outlawed the use of credit data in determining insurance premiums.
He and his longtime political ally Loren Parks were the only people to submit arguments in favor for the Voters' Guide.
Term limits had previously been in place in the late 1990s, but the prior law was declared unconstitutional by the Oregon Supreme Court.
Measure 40 sought to require that judges of the Oregon Supreme Court be elected by district, rather than statewide.
Measure 44 extended a state prescription drug benefit, previously only available to seniors, to cover all uninsured Oregonians.