Voting fusion

Candidates from all across the political spectrum are trying to cash in, netting the party’s nomination through a novel online voting system. The party is spending about $20,000 to conduct a secure online balloting process on its website, www.indparty.com.

The voting, open to any member of the Independent Party, started July 8 and will run through July 30, when the results will be unlocked from their encrypted online ballot box at 5 p.m.

That’s when the political junkies will get their first taste of the Riley-Starr race, by seeing who the Independent Party, at least, prefers.

Because of what’s called “fusion voting,” candidates for office in Oregon can list up to three party nominations on the ballot.

So if Chuck Riley wins the Independent Party’s nomination, he can list a capital “I” next to his Democratic “D.” That might help Riley pick up the swing voters who are unaffiliated, as well as the Independent Party voters.

“I’m going hard after the independents and building coalitions is part of my campaign as well,” said Shawn Lindsay, the Republican nominee for House District 30, who’s also seeking the nomination of the Independent Party.

Lindsay’s a likely lock for the nomination since his opponent, incumbent David Edwards, dropped out of the race last week and wasn’t seeking the nomination. Edwards was expected to be replaced on the Democratic ticket by Doug Ainge, a teacher at Banks High School, during a nominating convention held Tuesday night.

Minor party turnout

Peralta said even though some nomination races are uncontested, the party’s online-only nomination process has resulted in 20 contested primary races, far more than either the Democratic or Republican parties had in May.

“In a lot of cases it’s going to be a preview of the November race,” Peralta said.

Peralta might be right if a significant number of the party’s 55,000 or so members cast their ballots. But Peralta said the hopeful turnout number is 10 percent, and even 5 percent, or about 2,750 votes, would thrill party leaders.

“If we hit 5 percent we’d be pretty happy,” Peralta said. “Frankly, that would be the largest turnout for a minor party in the state.”

But the ability for anyone to read Independent voters’ decisions for trends might be obscured by an extremely low turnout. Independent Party polling seems to indicate that members have a fiscally conservative bent. And local races like Riley-Starr could rely on a handful of votes.