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Independent Party to hold first online primary

Peter Wong
Salem Statesman-Journal
July 18, 2010

Although it's smaller than either the Democratic or Republican parties, the Independent Party is combining the new with the old in the first-ever primary election conducted online in Oregon — and the first binding primary conducted online in any state.

Unlike the mail ballots that Oregon uses for all other elections, making it unique in the nation, there is no way to gauge how many of the 55,000 voters registered with the party have taken part online already. But organizers hope participation will exceed the 8 percent in a Democratic presidential preference primary in Arizona or 1 percent in a similar Republican preference primary in Alaska. Both votes took place in 2000; the Alaska vote was limited to three remote districts.    Read more ...

"We want to empower the Independent Party members to make decisions, not us," said Dan Meek, a Portland lawyer who helped found the party in 2007. "I think just having this election, for voters who otherwise don't get to cast ballots in primary elections of the major parties, is the accomplishment."

The online vote began July 8 and will close at 5 p.m. July 30. Votes will be tallied immediately afterward to determine the Independent Party nominees for governor, congressional seats, and state Senate and House seats.

It's being run by Everyone Counts Inc., based in San Diego, Calif.

Meek described the safeguards as "military-grade security" — for what that's worth. "The three of us who received USB keys, encoded before the election started, have to plug them in at the same time to unlock the results," he said. "It's just weird."

However, Independent Party voters can participate online only after they receive pass codes via postcards, which Meek said in some cases were not delivered as quickly as the mail ballots in Oregon elections. Already-registered voters can get help online.

With a handful of exceptions, virtually all of the candidates in the Independent Party primary are Democrats and Republicans already nominated by their parties.

Notable are Democrat John Kitzhaber, Richard Esterman of Sisters and Jerry Wilson of Hillsboro for governor; and Democratic U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader and Republican Scott Bruun for the 5th District seat.

There are also six House and five Senate candidates from the Mid-Valley, including both major-party nominees in House District 21 and Senate districts 10 and 13.

"The ability of a candidate to put 'Independent Party' next to his or her name on the ballot may be worth a lot of votes," Meek said.

In lieu of 325-word statements in a printed voters pamphlet, the Independent Party linked the websites of candidates to its own page — www.indparty.com — and asked all of them to respond to 10 questions, some relating to whether they support limits on campaign financing. There are links to the answers of about two-thirds who chose to.

"I think those answers provide a lot more information than any candidate's voters-pamphlet statement does," he said.

In 2008, the Independent Party nominated a handful of candidates — including Democrats Jeff Merkley for U.S. senator and Ben Westlund for state treasurer, and Republican state Rep. Vicki Berger of Salem — but they couldn't list those on the ballot.

Last year, lawmakers made it possible for a candidate to list designations of up to three political parties on the ballot. The parties do not receive separate lines, which would have made it possible to gauge the sources of support.