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ENLARGE
PATRICK STARNES
Every other spring, one out of five Oregon voters is banned from voting for statewide offices in Oregon’s May primary. I am one of these 400,000 Oregon voters who are registered non-affiliated (or independent).
Both Democrats and Republicans can agree this is not fair. In Douglas County this was shown by overwhelming support for our local, nonpartisan county commissioner version of Ballot Measure 65 in 2006. Everyone was surprised and satisfied when it passed with 68 percent.
Now everyone votes in the Douglas County commissioner primary.
Every two years, independents (or non-affiliated) voters help pay for the primary election across Oregon, yet are excluded from voting for the candidates on partisan ballots. If the political parties want to exclude people from the ballot, then the political parties should pay for their private primaries themselves.
Most anyone can see this exclusion as un-American and possibly “taxation without representation.”
Well, in order to remedy this unfairness, Oregonians have an opportunity to fix this injustice by voting yes on statewide Ballot Measure 65.
We all have been hearing or reading the expensive smear campaign saying this new system would be unfair to the political parties, but let’s look closer at the balance.
Oregon’s Open Primary would provide all the voters with the same ballot with all the candidates on the same ballot. Next to the candidate’s name would be his or her party affiliation if each has one. Independent voters would be able to help support whichever candidate was the most popular, regardless of party.
In Oregon’s Open Primary, Democrats could vote for Green Party candidates and Republicans could vote for Libertarians or Constitutionalists. Measure 65 is about freedom and fairness, not exclusion and restriction.
After the primary election in the spring, the top two vote-getters would move to the general election in the autumn, thereby eliminating the spoiler label altogether.
My third-party friends are worried that their minor partieswould not have access to the general election, and I counter that it doesn’t matter if you have access to the November ballot if you are excluded from the debates and only end up getting 3 percent every year anyway. With Oregon’s Open Primary, minor parties have a better chance of winning the primary and then the general election!
With Oregon’s Open Primary, minor party candidates have an increased chance of reaching independent voters and dissatisfied Democrats or Republicans.
For example, let’s say there were an even six-way split on the primary ballot: The top two vote-getters would only need to garner 17 percent to 20 percent of the vote to survive the primary in May and move to the run-off election in November, where they need to win with a majority of 50 percent plus one.
We already have this system of voting all across Oregon. This same system currently elects moderate candidates for nonpartisan sheriff, mayor and city councilor positions every two years.
What leads to more moderate candidates is the fact that the candidates must listen to all of the voters in the early election rather than just their narrow partisan base.
Measure 65 is about freedom and fairness. This new Open Primary is about equal voter rights and better representation.
Giving access to all voters to one ballot will increase voter participation and recruit better candidates.
Please join me in voting “yes” on 65, where everyone votes!
Lookingglass furnituremaker/cabinetmaker Patrick Starnes is registered nonaffiliated and is the leader of Citizens for Voter Participation, (C4VP.org) which made the Douglas County commissioners’ offices nonpartisan in 2006. He can be reached at c4vp@live.com or 580-9120.
Both Democrats and Republicans can agree this is not fair. In Douglas County this was shown by overwhelming support for our local, nonpartisan county commissioner version of Ballot Measure 65 in 2006. Everyone was surprised and satisfied when it passed with 68 percent.
Now everyone votes in the Douglas County commissioner primary.
Every two years, independents (or non-affiliated) voters help pay for the primary election across Oregon, yet are excluded from voting for the candidates on partisan ballots. If the political parties want to exclude people from the ballot, then the political parties should pay for their private primaries themselves.
Most anyone can see this exclusion as un-American and possibly “taxation without representation.”
Well, in order to remedy this unfairness, Oregonians have an opportunity to fix this injustice by voting yes on statewide Ballot Measure 65.
We all have been hearing or reading the expensive smear campaign saying this new system would be unfair to the political parties, but let’s look closer at the balance.
Oregon’s Open Primary would provide all the voters with the same ballot with all the candidates on the same ballot. Next to the candidate’s name would be his or her party affiliation if each has one. Independent voters would be able to help support whichever candidate was the most popular, regardless of party.
In Oregon’s Open Primary, Democrats could vote for Green Party candidates and Republicans could vote for Libertarians or Constitutionalists. Measure 65 is about freedom and fairness, not exclusion and restriction.
After the primary election in the spring, the top two vote-getters would move to the general election in the autumn, thereby eliminating the spoiler label altogether.
My third-party friends are worried that their minor partieswould not have access to the general election, and I counter that it doesn’t matter if you have access to the November ballot if you are excluded from the debates and only end up getting 3 percent every year anyway. With Oregon’s Open Primary, minor parties have a better chance of winning the primary and then the general election!
With Oregon’s Open Primary, minor party candidates have an increased chance of reaching independent voters and dissatisfied Democrats or Republicans.
For example, let’s say there were an even six-way split on the primary ballot: The top two vote-getters would only need to garner 17 percent to 20 percent of the vote to survive the primary in May and move to the run-off election in November, where they need to win with a majority of 50 percent plus one.
We already have this system of voting all across Oregon. This same system currently elects moderate candidates for nonpartisan sheriff, mayor and city councilor positions every two years.
What leads to more moderate candidates is the fact that the candidates must listen to all of the voters in the early election rather than just their narrow partisan base.
Measure 65 is about freedom and fairness. This new Open Primary is about equal voter rights and better representation.
Giving access to all voters to one ballot will increase voter participation and recruit better candidates.
Please join me in voting “yes” on 65, where everyone votes!
Lookingglass furnituremaker/cabinetmaker Patrick Starnes is registered nonaffiliated and is the leader of Citizens for Voter Participation, (C4VP.org) which made the Douglas County commissioners’ offices nonpartisan in 2006. He can be reached at c4vp@live.com or 580-9120.
