Senator Chris Edwards has a great post today: My reasons for supporting it are as simple and straightforward as the measure itself. First, it allows every registered voter the opportunity to equally participate in the publicly funded primary election. In Oregon, nearly a third of voters are not affiliated with one of the two major parties. That means at least 650,000 Oregonians are shut out. Under the current system a taxpaying voter is forced to join a party in order to have an equal vote. It’s 2014. It’s time to equalize the vote. What you may not know is that in Oregon most (2/3) of the Legislative districts are overwhelmingly dominated by one party: Democrats, such as in Portland, or Republicans, such as in Southern or Eastern Oregon. In all of these districts, it is the first vote in the primary that effectively decides who will represent that district in the Legislature. In these very partisan districts, the party in the minority NEVER wins (and by never, I mean in the past two decades in lopsided districts, election after election). Only people committed enough to a party to register in it are permitted vote in the election that effectively decides the representation for the entire district. This stifles real discourse and debate that would have been had, if voters not affiliated with a party had been able to weigh in. Forcing independent voters to join a party with whom they disagree in order to participate in the publicly funded election process is backward in this day and age. There are better ways to conduct elections than shutting out over 650,000 voters. Perhaps you are okay with the status quo, because under the current scenario, your team is winning in your part of the state or in the Capitol. But that doesn’t make it right, and it doesn’t cultivate trust by the voters in the system. If the voters can’t trust our system of democracy, how can we ever tackle the real systemic problems facing our state and our nation? If you are unsure of how you will vote, I ask that you simply consider the gridlock that has been produced by the current system and whether changing that is a worthwhile effort. My second reason for supporting Measure 90 is that by expanding the number of people who can participate in the publicly funded election process, it enforces the idea that politicians ought to be considering the interests of ALL their constituents on the whole, not just partisan primary voters. For all the buzz about how this measure will effect elections, it is the effect on governance and decision making that make this measure so critical. I hear from Oregonians all the time that they feel like Salem has lost its way; that voices like theirs are disregarded. In Portland I hear that the voices of true progressives, are watered down by special interests. In Eastern Oregon I hear that the current primary system has enabled the Tea Party extremists to hijack the Republican Party. And in the suburbs and moderate districts of Oregon voters tell me that the independent minded “socially liberal but fiscally responsible” voters simply aren’t represented. It seems that the entire state could benefit from an election system that unites us more than it divides us. And just maybe, along the way, the voters will like what they see when their elected representatives are forced to work together, across ideological divides, to better represent all the voices in their districts.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 15:25:19 +0000
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