Independent Party goes to court to win ballot fight

Posted by Jeff Mapes
August 12, 2008 18:18PM

The fledgling Independent Party on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in Marion County seeking to force the Oregon secretary of state to allow candidates to list more than one party nomination on the ballot.

Yes, I know, that top sentence makes you go, "huh?" Bear with me a moment.

The Independent Party is now the third-largest party in Oregon, although with 21,000 registrants it is still tiny compared to the 879,000 registered Democrats and 672,000 Republicans in the state.

Frohnmayer, brother of University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer, sat alongside and sounded a lot like the three leading Democrats in the primary, Jeff Merkley, Candy Neville and Steve Novick.

But the party with the appealing name - think how many voters naturally call themselves "independents" - has struck on the clever strategy of cross-nominating some candidates who have already won major-party nominations.

So far, three candidates have also gained the independent party nod: Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Merkley, Democratic Treasurer candidate Ben Westlund and Republican congressional candidate Joel Haugen.

Secretary of State Bill Bradbury has ruled that under state law, candidates can only list themselves as the nominee of one party. The Independent Party hopes to win a quick legal victory to reverse that decision before the Aug. 26 deadline for finalizing the ballot for the November election.

I won't play lawyer here and critique the party's chances in court. But it sure seems like it could be a nice boost for a candidate to be able to include the independent tag on the ballot.

In fact, Merkley, Westlund and Haugen all say they'd like to include the independent brand next to their major-party label on the ballot.

"I think it could" help Merkley's candidacy, said Merkley spokesman Matt Canter. "There are 22,000 Independent Party members, and it would obviously make a major difference to them - and it obviously speaks to Jeff's leadership."

Plus, given how hard Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., has worked to seize the political middle in this race, Merkley would certainly welcome the opportunity to claim he's the real independent.