PSU Magazine Spring 2005

~ "' UJ z 2 Vl UJ Q, ~ z 0 ~ Vl ~ Par By Melissa Steineger When you look in the mirror, who's looking back? A Republican? A Demo– crat? If you answer neither, you may be on the leading edge of a new political philosophy poised to sweep the nation-and it's starting on the West Coast. ln most states today, when you step into the voting booth for the primary, you choose from either a list of Repub– licans or a list of Democrats-no cross– voting allowed. The Democrat and Republican winners go on to be their party's candidate in the general election. What if instead you could vote for anyone you wanted, no matter which party they belonged to or whether or not they belonged to a party at all? The 12 PSU MAGAZI E SPRI G 2005 own As Oregon looks at open primaries, will party loyalty become a thing of the past? top two vote getters-be they both Democrats, Republicans, or some com– bination with maybe a well-liked inde– pendent thrown in-would then duke it out in November. Oregon Sen. Charlie Ringo, D– Beaverton, introduced three bills this session aimed at achieving that non– partisan idea. His bills run a gamut from making only the state legislative seats nonpartisan, a system currently used in ebraska, to making all offices nonpartisan-including Oregon's U.S. congressional delegates. All of Ringo's proposals call for non– partisan primaries, similar to those used for judgeships and the Portland City Council. And former Secretary of State Phil Keisling, who championed vote-by- mail, promises that if Ringo's legislative proposals don't pass, a ballot initiative calling for open primaries is in your future. How will you decide? One of the main advantages in sup– porters' eyes is that open primaries might lead to a reduction in partisan bickering. How 7 Consider that in a staunchly Democratic district, the Democratic candidate who wins the primary is virtually a shoo-in at the general election. Multnomah County can be counted on to go blue. The same is true for Republican strong– holds: Red votes red. So how do you win the primary? Conventional wisdom says candidates in primaries must appeal to party extremists, because those voters can be counted on to show up on primary polling day. Middle-of-the-road voters, goes the thinking, often wait until the general election-even though in a loyally red or blue district, the general election is merely a rubber stamp for the winner of the primary. Keisling thinks as many as 70 to 80 percent of state legislative seats in Ore– gon are essentially selected in the pri– mary because the districts are so strongly red or blue. And, he points out, in the current system you can win a primary with a small percentage of votes. Keisling cites the example of a for– mer congressman who won the 1993 primary in a heavily Republican dis– trict with what Keisling recalls to be the support of about 10 percent of all eligible voters. How did it happen7 Only 40 percent of all registered voters participated in the primary, and the Republican vote was split in a five-way contest. R ichard Clucas, PSU political science professor, agrees that in most primaries a smaller, more committed group of people tends to vote. Which means that candidates must appeal to the fringe to have a hope of winning in the primary. And if elected, candidates must serve the radicals who put them in office-which is usually not con– ducive to working with members of the other party.