The Eugene, Oregon daily newspaper, the Register-Guard, here editorializes in favor of an idea first proposed by the Independent Party of Oregon. Currently the Democratic and Republican Parties of Oregon do not let independent voters vote in their primaries, but the Independent Party does. The Independent Party will hold a government-administered primary in 2016 for the first time, due to its new higher registration total.

Oregon has just switched to a system in which all adult citizens known to the state government automatically become registered, unless they opt out. In Oregon, all registered voters automatically receive a mail ballot.

Current law says these newly-registered voters will get a letter from the elections office, asking if they wish to become a registered member of any qualified party. The Independent Party says a better way to reach out to the newly-registered voters and determine their interest in being a member of any party is to send three primary ballots to these voters, Republican, Democratic, and Independent. If a newly-registered voter chooses to vote in one of the three primaries, that will be deemed to be that voter’s act of affiliating with that party.