On February 24, the Senate Rules Committee passed HB 4026. It eases the registration test for a party to remain on the ballot, from one-half of 1% of the state total, to one-fourth of 1% of the state total. The registration test is an alternate test. Parties either need to pass the registration test, or the vote test. The vote test is 1% for any statewide race at either of the last two elections.

The bill had already passed the House. It was requested by the Working Families Party, which generally can’t use the vote test because it usually doesn’t have its own nominees for statewide offices; instead it typically nominates the Democratic nominee. In Oregon, fusion is aggregated, so there is no separate vote for each party when two parties have the same nominee. So the Working Families Party doesn’t get credit for the vote its nominee receives, and therefore the party is dependent on passing the alternate registration test.