On July 3rd our campaign submitted the last batch of over 119,000 signatures to place the Open Primary measure on the ballot. Needing only 13,400 more signatures to qualify, we submitted 27,400 to put us over the top. The Secretary of State’s office will be validating these final signatures through July, but we are highly confident that we have more than enough signatures and that we will be on the November ballot.
Now that the Open Primary proposal is moving forward we will need your support so that we can run a visible public campaign. This will be a year when most ballot measures will deserve a strong NO vote. Our campaign will need to let Oregonians know that the Open Primary is an exception that deserves their support.
Please consider contributing to our campaign.
Key Features of the Open Primary Measure
- Allows independents and un-affiliated voters to vote in the primaries.
- For all current partisan local, state, and federal offices (except President), voters in the primary election could vote for any candidate, of the candidate’s party registration.
- The top two-vote getters in the primary go the general election for a run-off.
So…, what could this mean?
Two Democrats could be running against each other in the fall. Or two Republicans could be running against each other. Or two Independents. Or a Democrat could be squaring off with a Green Party member. Or a Republican against a Libertarian. And so forth.
The result will likely be a greater number of competitive general election contests (that’s the way it should be), and will likely include a greater diversity of issues being discussed.
What are the main reasons to support this?
The measure appeals to various people for different reasons, but here are a few of the main reasons thousands of Oregonians support Oregon’s open primary idea.
- It is more fair to the nearly 25% of registered voters who are currently excluded from the partisan primaries.
- It will encourage more independent-minded candidates to run for office. (Under the current closed-primary system, politicians tend to focus on the narrow perspectives of the main interest groups of each party. Afterall, in most contests, winning the primary usually determines the final outcome).
- Candidates will articulate views and approaches that can reach and matter to all voters.
- More than any other issue being discussed, we believe that reforming the electoral structure will better enable our elected officials to address so many of the problems that have been neglected for the past 20 years.
