On February 5, the Oregon House Rules Committee is hearing testimony on HJR 201, a proposed Constitutional amendment that would provide for a top-two primary, with the proviso that parties that do not wish to participate could still place their nominees on the November ballot as well, and independent candidates could still petition onto the November ballot.
The bill would not permit a candidate in the top-two primary to list a party label unless the candidate were endorsed by that party. Here is the text. The lead sponsor is Representative Cyrus Javadi (D-Tillamook). He had been elected as a Republican but had then switched to being a Democrat. The bill has ten other sponsors also.
The bill’s supporters biggest point is that independent voters are 37% of the registered voters and ought to be allowed to vote in primaries. One wonders why they don’t simply support a bill that says independents can vote in any party’s primary, as other western states New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona have done. Or they could support a classic open primary, in which the voter registration form doesn’t ask the voter to choose a party, and in which any voter is free to vote in any party’s primary.
Because they may have candidates they prefer for different offices in more than one primary?
Please, for God’s sake, NO top-two.
This is a small improvement. Parties can withhold labels, and candidates can bypass the primary
Is there any penalty for a party that doesn’t participate? What if no party chooses to participate, or only one party?
Oregon should let voters register an email address with the SOS. Candidates could distribute information through this system which could provide more information than a mere party label.
Giving the state one’s email address to facilitate reception of political propaganda is a curious proposal. The assumption is that people would want to provide an email address to the state of their own choosing for any reason, that the reason would be so that political candidates could spam them, and that the people who make this bizarre choice would actually read whatever they got.
@CP,
It is a system used by France, at least for non-resident voters. It may be limited to citizens who are registered with their consulate/embassy. France has 11 (of 577 total) constituencies for overseas residents. These are distinct from constituencies for overseas territories (e.g. Martinique).
In some previous elections, France has required in person voting. The French consulate in Houston serves Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. IIRC, in past elections there were polling places at the consulate in Houston, Dallas, and Austin.
IIRC, you could provide an alternate email address for this information. Also a political party would have to stop sending e-mail to you if you requested it.
Doesn’t France list political parties on the ballot?
@Q,
Voters are given one ballot paper per candidate. They place one in an envelope and deposit that in the ballot box. Writing anything on the ballot paper spoils the ballot.
It appears that the ballot papers are perhaps 3×5. On one side are printed slogans, pictures, etc. On the other side is the candidate name in plain black letters. They appear to be printed in a single color on white paper. There are stacks when a voter enters the polling station, and they may choose (or perhaps they are expected to take one of each). The official printing company printed 439 million for the 2017 election.
Voters receive a packet containing campaign literature before the election. There are also official campaign posters, which are of uniform size, and appear to be posted on temporary fence like structures. I don’t know if these are in polling places or outside.
When counted, they use the plain side to organize stacks, which are then counted. It appears that the ballot papers have been folded once.
I found one article about blank vs. spoiled ballots. A spoiled ballot is a defaced ballot such as being written on, torn, etc. A blank ballot is an empty envelope, or a blank ballot paper, which must be of the same size and paper weight of ballot papers, but are not distributed at the polling location. Spoiled and blank ballots are counted, but not used in determining the result (French elections require a majority).
France banned postal voting in 1975. They permit voting machines, but have not permitted new deployment since 2008. About 60 of 35,000 municipalities used voting machines in 2022.
What about voters who don’t use email?
@JA,
The French embassies/consulates likely use e-mail to contact French citizens overseas. It may be harder to contact someone by phone when traveling. And forget about snail-mail (Le Postal Escargot).
I stopped using email a couple years ago. Most people just text now.
@RF,
If you were living in a foreign country, would you rely on text to communicate with the consulate/embassy?
Here is a description of the French election system, including a picture of the ballot papers.
https://medium.com/@rebekah.arana/a-vot%C3%A9-how-elections-work-in-france-2e08688d69e
It is difficult to find a description of low level election mechanics. People assume that elections are conducted just like in their home. I found descriptions of French elections which showed ballots with names, a check box, and party names in English. I doubt that French elections use English.
Thomas Jones will be happy to note that the ballot papers include the name of a Suppleant or Remplacant.
I’d probably call them or stop by in person.