Consolidated primary plan reaches ballot
By Brad Cain, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, July 22, 2008 |
Proposed measure would pit candidates of opposing parties in a single primary
SALEM — Independent voters, currently not allowed to vote in Oregon’s Republican and Democratic primary elections, would have a say in picking candidates under an initiative measure that will appear on the state’s November ballot.
The secretary of state’s office announced Monday the measure had attracted enough petition signatures to gain a spot on the fall ballot, as did another one to dedicate 15 percent of lottery profits for crime prevention, investigations and prosecutions.
In all, seven citizen-sponsored initiatives have won a place on the fall ballot. Secretary of state spokesman Don Hamilton said officials will announce soon whether an eighth measure — to tie teacher pay to classroom performance — will qualify as well.
The “open primary” measure, sponsored by two former Oregon secretaries of state — Democrat Phil Keisling and Republican Norma Paulus — would essentially abolish party primaries in Oregon.
Instead, candidates would run in a single primary, with the two top finishers, regardless of party, advancing to the November general election.
Keisling and other supporters say it would bring more independent voters into the process and cut down on excessive partisanship.
“It lets people vote for the best candidate, regardless of their own party affiliation or lack thereof,” Keisling said Monday. “It lets independent voters participate in elections that have been open only to party members.”
Officials from both the state Republican and Democratic parties have opposed the measure, saying party members should be able to choose their own nominees and that the open primary could produce a November runoff featuring members of the same party.
The other measure that qualified on Monday — to divert 15 percent of lottery proceeds into a public safety fund — is sponsored by Republican activist Kevin Mannix. He already has won a spot on November’s ballot for another measure to set minimum prison sentences for offenders convicted of some property and drug crimes.
Half the money under Mannix’s lottery measure would be used to fund the criminal investigation and forensics operations of the State Police.
The other half would go to the counties to boost operating funds for Oregon’s district attorneys and local sheriffs, and to pay for early childhood programs for at-risk children.
The measure is expected to draw opposition from education interests and others, since lottery profits are now earmarked for schools and economic development as well as state parks and salmon restoration.
Under a measure approved by voters in 1996, 15 percent of that money goes to parks and salmon restoration; 18 percent goes to an education reserve fund; and the rest is divvied up between economic development and K-12 school funding.
Tags »
Embed This Article
Feel free to embed this article onto your website by copying the
code below and pasting it into your site's HTML.
The comments below are from users of theworldlink.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The World or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Not already registered?
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines