GOP's Open Primary Offer Stands, Despite Lack Of Contests

Capitol Currents:

The Oregon Secretary of State's office is preparing to spend $200,000 to carry out the Oregon Republican Party's wishes to open its May primary to non-affiliated voters. The party's offer only applies to three statewide races: Secretary of State, Treasurer and Attorney General--and not to the Presidential primary or state legislative races.When the offer was extended last month, it wasn't clear how many candidates would be on the ballot for non-affiliated voters to choose from. The answer, as it turns out, is hardly any. In fact, those non-affiliated voters won't have a single contested race to help decide. Only one--the Secretary of State's primary--has even a single Republican candidate on the ballot. No Republicans at all filed to run for Attorney General or Treasurer. Nevertheless, Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown is moving ahead, as required by statute, in carrying out the Republican Party's request. To do so, her office is preparing to mail the state's roughly 428,000 non-affiliated voters a postcard this month, letting them know how to request a "partial Republican primary ballot." To participate, those voters will have to submit that postcard--which serves as a request form--to their county clerk's office by April 24. According to the Secretary of State's office, the cost of preparing and mailing the postcards adds up to approximately $200,000. Of course, despite a shortage of actual candidates, non-affiliated and registered Republicans alike will still be able to cast a write-in ballot. In the 2008 primary, for instance, when--like this year--no Republican was on the primary ballot for Attorney General, nearly 3,000 GOP voters wrote in the name of John Kroger, who was then seeking the Democratic nomination against Greg Macpherson. Kroger scored a double victory by beating Macpherson and locking up the Republican nomination on the strength of those write-in votes. The same scenario, with a different candidate, could conceivably happen this year as two Democrats--Dwight Holton and Ellen Rosenblum--are competing for the Democratic nomination.

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