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Oregon’s Constitution (Article 2, Section 1) states that, “All elections shall be free and equal.” However, this is far from the case, as elections are currently conducted in Oregon. Statewide, nearly 40% of registered voters in Oregon — approximately 1 million nonaffiliated voters — are barred from voting in primary elections. This, despite the fact that nonaffiliated voters help pay for conducting these publicly funded elections through their taxes.

Even though Oregon has a reputation for making it easier for voter participation by pioneering secure and simplified vote-by-mail elections administered through our county clerks, prepaid postage on ballots, and automatic registration through our Motor Voter Act, Oregon has stubbornly continued to suppress some voters’ “free and equal” participation. Oregon’s “closed” primary system only allows voters who are registered as either a Republican or a Democrat, to cast a ballot in primary elections.

No eligible voter in Oregon should be forced to join one of the two major political parties in order to exercise their right to vote.

Oregon’s “closed” primary system is the result of the duopoly maintained by the Republican and Democratic parties, which together control Oregon politics. If we, as a state, truly value voter access and participation, we shouldn’t leave it to the leadership of the Republican and Democratic parties, whose interests are, by definition, partisan and narrow to open up Oregon’s taxpayer-funded primary races.

“I don’t care who does the electing, as long as I get to do the nominating,” famously declared William “Boss” Tweed, who long controlled the Democratic Party machine in New York City in the 19th century. Sadly, this quote still applies to how Oregon’s primary system is run.

This is why a nonpartisan group of Oregonians from across the state have come together to champion a Ballot Initiative Petition to give all voters the opportunity to determine who makes it through primaries to the general election.

Oregon Open Primaries, an all-volunteer nonprofit, is currently collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that would amend Oregon’s Constitution to clarify that when it says “all elections shall be free and equal,” it means that “the state shall only select candidates for the general election by conducting an open primary election in which all qualified candidates and electors may participate regardless of political party affiliation or nonaffiliation.”

Currently, only voters registered as Republicans or Democrats can vote in publicly funded primaries for the state’s most important offices, such as for governor, as well as for House and Senate representatives to the U.S. Congress, state legislators and other statewide executive offices, such as secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer and labor commissioner.

And yet, major political parties represent an increasingly smaller share of voters in Oregon. Statewide, the percentage of nonaffiliated voters has surged by 40% in the past five years. Nonaffiliated voters now outnumber voters registered as Republicans, and are expected to soon overtake the number of voters registered as Democrats. Astoundingly, in 18 of Oregon’s 36 counties — that’s half the state’s counties, including large and small, red and blue, East side and West side — nonaffiliated voters outnumber both Republicans and Democrats.

In Wallowa County, according to the latest numbers available from the Secretary of State’s Office, Republicans comprise approximately 47% of total registered voters; Democrats are 20%; and nonaffiliated voters are 27%. This means that approximately 1,600 voters in Wallowa County have no voice and are barred from voting in Oregon’s primary elections that determine which candidates will be listed on final ballots.

Although the state Republican and Democratic parties blame each other for the hyperpartisanship and polarization that currently characterizes Oregon politics, both parties have long resisted a surefire solution to easing this divisiveness — allow nonaffiliated voters to participate in primaries that determine voters’ choices in the general election. Then, candidates would need to listen and respond to the concerns of a much broader group of voters, instead of just to the most partisan and often most extreme members of their base, who generally tend to be the voters in party primaries. Open primaries would encourage more candidates to campaign as true problem-solvers working for the best interests of all Oregonians.

Supporters of the “Free and Equal” Initiative Petition (Initiative Petition 39) are currently gathering signatures to qualify for including the constitutional amendment on the November 2022 ballot, so that voters can decide whether the basic right of voting should extend to all voters, regardless of their party affiliation or nonaffiliation.

To learn more about the “Free and Equal” Initiative Petition, see www.oregonopenprimaries.org. You can also print out an “Electronic Signature Sheet” from the website for you to sign and return by mail to Oregon Open Primaries.

Oregon Open Primaries is also actively recruiting volunteers to help gather signatures.