Crook County voters will be asked this May how they feel about becoming part of Idaho, but even if everyone said yes, it isn’t likely to happen.

The ballot measure, which was filed with the county clerk’s office Wednesday, reads: “Should Crook County represent that its citizens support efforts to move the Idaho state border to include Crook County?”

Counties have no authority to move their boundaries or join another state. But ballot measures, like the one slated for Crook County ballots, can pose a question that answers what direction leaders should take.

Crook will be the 15th county in Oregon to vote on the Oregon-Idaho question. Voters in 12 counties, mostly in the eastern half of the state, have supported measures while a majority of voters in two Southern Oregon counties — Douglas and Josephine — declined to support the Greater Idaho movement.

The process for rural Oregon counties to join Idaho would require approval from both states’ legislatures and Congress.

In 2023, Idaho lawmakers approved a resolution to open up discussions with Oregon lawmakers on moving borders, but a similar bill in Oregon didn’t move forward.

The Greater Idaho movement was born in La Pine in 2019, and quickly snatched attention across the country, especially as political divisions sown during the 2020 election and the ensuing COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated.

Mike McCarter, a 76-year-old La Pine resident and Air Force veteran, has seen the movement through as president since the beginning.

“The county vote doesn’t really do anything legislatively,” McCarter said. “But it does bring out a voice that there is a problem.”

A measure like this has been talked about for years in Crook County, but other attempts at putting a question on the ballot have failed, said Cheryl Seely, the Crook County clerk.

“I know county government had been pressed on this for a long time,” Seely said.

The question before voters in May was brought forth by the county court, the county’s governing body, which is the only way an advisory question can be brought forward.

Supporters of the movement don’t want to move to Idaho or create a new state. They simply want a governance shift, McCarter said.

“We are tied to our land,” he said.

McCarter imagines one day the Oregon-Idaho question could reach the level of a state referendum. In the meantime, he hopes the Legislature addresses the question with a task force. Although, McCarter isn’t jaded by hopes for immediate change.

“I don’t think there’s a perfect world,” McCarter said, “just like I don’t think there’s perfect states.”