No one appeared on the Oregon Republican primary ballot on May 20 for Attorney General. As a result, Oregon election officials must count and canvass all write-ins for that race. The press says that there were approximately 12,000 write-ins in that race. Unlike most states, Oregon does not have a procedure by which a write-in candidate must file a declaration of write-in candidacy in advance of the election, so that only write-ins for such declared candidates must be counted. Oregon formerly had such a provision, but repealed it in 1995.
It is taking so long to count the write-ins, that the results are not known yet. The Secretary of State’s office says the job may be done by June 17. Whoever gets the most write-ins will be offered the nomination. That person is then free to accept, or decline. If Kevin Mannix, a well-known Republican politician, receives the most write-ins, he will probably accept. He is a former state legislator and someone who has organized many initiatives. He was on the ballot for U.S. House in the May 20 primary, in the 5th district, but he lost that primary. But that won’t stand in the way of his being nominated by write-in votes for Attorney General, if indeed he received the most write-ins. Oregon has no threshold number of write-ins that the winner of a primary must receive in order to be nominated. Whomever gets the most votes, is the nominee.
