The Independent Party has so many members, it decided to not nominating by convention or caucus, instead it is holding its own primary, at its own expense, via the internet. The party is sending a postal letter to every member, giving him or her a unique ID number. That number can then be used by that voter to vote in the party's on-line primary during July.
For more information about the process, use the above link.
Because Oregon legalized fusion last year, the party has many contested primaries. For Governor, the party has a 3-candidate race: two members of the Independent Party (Jerry Wilson and Richard Esterman), and the Democratic nominee, John Kitzhaber. For U.S. House in the 3rd district, the Independent Party primary is between the Green Party nominee and the Libertarian Party nominee. For the 4th and 5th districts, the Independent Party primary is between the Democratic and Republican nominees. For all state and federal offices combined, there are 77 candidates in the party's primary.
On June 22 the Secretary of State rejected a complaint by the Democratic Party that the Independent Party's nomination procedures are unlawful.
The Independent Party was founded in 2005 by supporters of Ralph Nader, and others, who were frustrated that in 2005, the Oregon legislature passed a bill that made it far more difficult for independent candidates to get on the ballot. That 2005 law was repealed in 2009. It said that primary voters could not sign independent candidate petitions.
Michael H. Drucker
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