In Oregon, there is a movement for open primaries that is currently driven by a new 2026 ballot campaign called the Voters Fairness Act. This follows a failed attempt to get a similar measure on the 2024 ballot and the recent defeat of Measure 117 (Ranked-Choice Voting) in November 2024.
What Laws Are Being Proposed?
The current push consists of two main initiatives targeted for the November 2026 ballot, Initiative 55 and Initiative 56.
Initiative 55 (Constitutional Amendment): This would amend the Oregon Constitution to eliminate partisan primaries entirely. It aims to stop the practice where only party members can vote for their party’s candidates.
* I see this as being dangerous. We do not want open primaries. Think of the chaos a party could cause on the other party. If you are a NAV, sign up with the party of your choice for the primary so you can vote. You can easily move back to a NAV status after the primary if you want.
Initiative 56 (State Statute): This would establish a “Top Two” primary system. In this system, all candidates for an office appear on a single ballot regardless of party. All voters can vote for any candidate, and the top two finishers—even if they are from the same party—advance to the general election.
On the west coast blue states – Washington and California, the “Top Two” primary system has been in place for over a decade (since 2008 and 2011, respectively).
* In the “Top Two” Initiative 56 – I see this as being a way to close out any minority party in a given county and for that matter the state. Think how this would play out in a governor’s race, would any republican ever get to the ballot? This is a party lock out initiative.
