By Nigel Duara, The Associated Press
June 17, 2010

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- It would be a first for Oregon: The state's largest minor party says it's going to conduct an online-only primary this summer.

Linda Williams, founder of the Independent Party of Oregon, said Wednesday the primary will begin sometime in July and last for two weeks.

by Sal Peralta
June 8, 2010

There have been various news accounts about my role in fundraising for the Independent Party of Oregon's upcoming statewide election. The stories include excerpts from recordings of conversations secretly taped by a Democratic state senator and a Senate Democratic staffer in which I asked candidates to help defray the cost of holding a full and fair Internet election. I made mistakes.

My rationale for asking these candidates to donate was simple and maybe too naive: I thought that if a candidate was committed to an open process and seeking nomination from thousands of voters, then he or she might have an interest in helping the process -- making sure the election is held by an experienced Internet voting firm, that all party members receive mail notice of their secure log-on codes, and that the results are certified as unimpeachable and fair.

The state of Oregon spends millions of taxpayer dollars on primary elections for Democrats and Republicans. Minor parties receive nothing -- no subsidy from taxpayers, no filing fees from candidates, not a cent.

By Dan Meek
to the Register-Guard
June 16, 2010

The new Independent Party of Oregon wants to get big money and special interests out of politics. It wants to offer voters more choices and reform the two-party monopoly.

We urged one reform that the 2009 Oregon Legislature adopted: A candidate nominated by more than one political party can list up to three party labels following his or her name on the general election ballot. Nomination by more than one party is called “cross-nomination.”

by Hasso Hering, Editor
Albany Democrat-Herald
June 9, 2010

Among Oregon’s political candidates, many Democrats and Republicans suddenly also want to become the nominees of the Independent Party. They want the label, but voters may wonder if they also want the ideas.

What ideas? There’s no Independent Party platform. But there are other indications from articles on the party’s website.

Campaign finance reform is near the top of the list. The party would like to see limits on political contributions, especially the contributions of corporations. The Oregon constitution doesn’t allow limits on that form of political speech, so the party position would require a constitutional amendment to carry out.

PORTLAND — After months of Democrats and Republicans dominating the news about this year's campaign for governor of Oregon, third-party challengers and independent candidates get their shot.

At least three of the six minor parties in Oregon could field governor candidates, and a Portland lawyer is thinking about a run as a nonaffiliated candidate — all giving voters more choices and perhaps giving the major-party candidates Republican Chris Dudley and Democrat John Kitzhaber some political headaches.

As is often the case in Oregon elections, there's a chance third-party and independent candidates will influence how the campaign unfolds. They can either siphon votes and spoil one candidate's chances, or they can influence one or both of the major-party candidates to change campaign strategies.