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.

Massachusetts voters now have the ability to register into the Socialism and Liberation Party, and election officials will tally how many people do that. This is the first step for an unrecognized party to become recognized. However, the job is veery difficult; Massachusetts requires that 1% of all voters register into a party before it is ballot-qualified. That takes approximately 50,000 registrants.

The other path for a group to become a qualified party is easier. If a group runs someone for statewide office who polls 3% of the vote, that group also becomes a qualified party.

On February 2, the South Dakota Senate State Affairs Committee defeated SB 33. It would have reduced the independent presidential petition requirement from 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, to one-half of 1% of the registered voters.