Pencil’s bid for Oregon governor spotlights literacy crisis

write-in Pencil – A Portland campaign featuring a talking pencil urges voters to write “Pencil” to pressure Oregon leaders to fix K-12 reading scores.

A six-foot-tall talking pencil is turning heads in downtown Portland, and it’s using that attention to make a blunt point about Oregon’s K-12 literacy performance.

The campaign, led by J.. Schuberth running as “Pencil. ” arrived at a Saturday farmer’s market where curious shoppers stopped to ask the obvious question: were they voting for a pencil or a person?. The answer was “as a pencil. ” delivered in costume. as Schuberth distributed flyers and urged people to raise awareness about education.

The request is strikingly specific: Schuberth is asking Oregon voters to skip voting for any Republican or Democrat in the November general election and instead write “Pencil” on their ballots. It’s an inherently unusual strategy, and it comes with practical limits under Oregon’s election rules.

Oregon is set to elect Gov.. Tina Kotek to another term in November. and the political attention is already fixed on the governor and the Republicans who want to challenge her.. This year. a group of GOP candidates is competing to be the nominee. while Pencil positions itself as a message to the broader political establishment.

Schuberth’s argument hinges on a widely cited concern about reading achievement.. Oregon fourth-graders have ranked dead last in reading. according to one prominent analysis of national testing. and Schuberth is using that data as the centerpiece of the write-in effort.. “This is an indictment of the people who are running our state. ” Schuberth said. arguing that Democrats have held a supermajority. or near it. for a long time and have therefore been shaping education policy.

Schuberth describes a long-running concern about literacy.. A former college professor and longtime literacy advocate, Schuberth said they became increasingly alarmed as Oregon fell behind other states.. Frustration with what they see as repeated missteps in reform efforts helped spur the creation of the Pencil costume earlier this year and the start of the campaign.

While Schuberth stresses the campaign is about pressure. not power. the pencil-based bid is not expected to change the outcome of the governorship.. Oregon’s constitution contains no provision that would allow an anthropomorphized object to become chief executive.. Still. Schuberth believes the write-in push can function as a kind of public signal about how urgently voters want education problems addressed.

The campaign also highlights uncertainty about how many write-in votes Pencil would ultimately receive.. Under state law. election officials only tabulate write-in votes for individual candidates if the total number of write-ins exceeds the votes for the leading candidate.. Schuberth said they are looking into how to tally the Pencil votes themselves by requesting images of ballots cast. acknowledging that election mechanics could otherwise complicate what becomes officially countable.

In Portland, the education focus appears to be resonating more widely than the novelty of the costume might suggest. At the farmer’s market, Schuberth said they encountered voters who were open to using the write-in option to make a point, even if they still supported Kotek’s political survival.

Some residents expressed dissatisfaction with Oregon schools while stopping short of endorsing Pencil as an actual governing choice.. Portland resident Randy Hueber said he ultimately wants Tina Kotek to win but would consider writing in Pencil’s name to “get the point across.” Suzanne Lassen. meanwhile. described the state’s student performance as a “crime” and said she believes it has only gotten worse. stating she would be willing to write in Pencil. partly because she views the current administration as ineffective.

For Anna Mackay, the state of Oregon’s education system translated into a family-level decision.. She said her household lacks “bottomless means. ” leading her to consider putting her children in private school due to outcomes she finds troubling. and she told the campaign she would “certainly consider” a write-in vote.

Even a local politician working a parallel campaign path signaled openness to the message.. Joe Hagedorn. a candidate for county judge who was also campaigning at the farmer’s market. said he did not know much about Pencil. but would consider a write-in based on how closely the education message aligns with his own interests.

The pencil stunt is not the only effort to center education in the statewide political battle.. Every Republican seeking to face Kotek in November is sharpening attacks on Democratic education policies. tying them to lagging test scores.. Kotek. for her part. has acknowledged that schools are “not okay” and has made literacy—including reading—a priority in her first term.

In that effort, Kotek has pushed investments aimed at improving the programs used to teach children to read.. She also authored a new law intended to give state officials more ability to intervene in districts that are underperforming.. In a recent interview. Kotek said she agrees with Pencil that Oregon has a problem with literacy and reading and writing. adding that addressing it has been a priority since her first year as governor.

Schuberth, however, argues Kotek’s approach has not gone far enough.. They said the governor’s strategy is “toothless” and won’t work. insisting Oregon needs to do more to achieve improvements similar to those attributed to states like Mississippi. where focused literacy efforts have produced dramatic gains.

Pencil’s campaign materials reflect that argument’s urgency and tone. pairing the pencil’s friendly image with a serious message: “Oregon’s education system is failing our kids. but together we can FIX it!” Schuberth said the campaign has already spent nearly $30. 000 of their own money to spread the message. suggesting that turning awareness into measurable write-in support could require significant additional outreach.

After the May 19 primary, Pencil said it plans to make a run at the November general election.. The immediate contest may be about Kotek and the Republican nominee contenders for governor. but the pencil campaign is aiming to shift attention back to a broader question voters appear to be asking in different ways: whether Oregon’s leaders have done enough to reverse a long-running literacy problem.

write-in Pencil Oregon governor election Tina Kotek K-12 literacy reading test scores education policy reform