More than 1.3 million registered voters in Oregon don’t have a say in primary elections, but two potential ballot initiatives could change that in the November 2026 election.
Former Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski, former Republican state Rep. Cheri Helt of Bend and Independent Party of Oregon Co-Chair Andrew Kaza submitted two petitions to the Oregon Secretary of State this week to begin the ballot initiative process and let voters decide whether to amend state law and the state’s Constitution to open primary elections to all voters.
Primary elections are held in May of every even-numbered year. While nonaffiliated Oregon voters and voters registered under minor political parties can vote in nonpartisan elections such as for judges,local offices and labor commissioner, they are closed off from voting for Democratic or Republican candidates in the primary such as candidates for U.S. Congress, governor and state lawmakers.
The petitioners argue primary elections are paid for by all taxpayers and thus should be accessible to all Oregonian taxpayers.
About 44% of Oregon’s current registered voters aren’t able to vote in most primary elections because they are either nonaffiliated or registered under a minority political party such as the Constitutional, Independent or Progressive Party.
The state’s nonaffiliated voter bloc has risen over the years. In 2021, there were more Democrats than nonaffiliated voters, but by 2022, nonaffiliated voters began outnumbering the state’s registered Democrats and Republicans, the Capital Chronicle previously reported.
Kaza, the chief petitioner who lives in Deschutes County where most registered voters are nonaffiliated, said the ballot initiative came out of the concern that the closed primary system drives extremist politics.
“Part of our problem with our politics here and throughout the country right now is that the political party process and the primaries drive us to the extremes of both the Democratic and the Republican Party,” he told the Capital Chronicle. “There’s a concern for the disenfranchised voters who are being left out of this process until November every year.”
The Oregon Democratic Party and Oregon Republican Party did not immediately respond to the Capital Chronicle for comment.
Kaza said he and the other petitioners consider the ballot initiative a necessary reform, and that Oregon falls behind other states in the West.
Oregonians in 2008 and 2014 tried to change the state’s closed primary system, but voters defeated those measures which would have created a top-two primary system similar to California and Washington. Other states in the West, such as Montana, have open primaries, while Wyoming and Nevada have closed primaries. In Idaho, primaries are closed in the Republican primary but the Democratic primary is open to any voter.
Kaza said he and the other petitioners think the initiative has a good chance of getting support from Oregon voters, but he said it may take until November 2028 for the initiatives to appear on the ballot.
“We’re realistic in this process,” Kaza said. “We recognize that 2026 is ambitious, but if everything works out, it’s quite possible that we’ll be voting on this next year, but if not everything’s in place for us to bring it forward in 2028 at the latest.”
Before gathering voter signatures, petitioners must first submit 1,000 sponsorship signatures and receive approval from the Oregon attorney general on the ballot language for both petitions. The petitioners will need to pass a constitutional amendment and an amendment to state law in order to open the state’s primaries.
To qualify for the November 2026 ballot, they’ll need to collect 156,000 signatures for a petition to amend the Oregon Constitution and 117,000 to change state law.
FYI: The open primaries initiatives are listed as numbers 55 and 56 on the Oregon Secretary of State Election Division’s database for Initiatives, Referendums and Referrals.
By Mia Maldonado of news partner Oregon Capital Chronicle
Do you have a story for The Advocate? Email editor@corvallisadvocate.com