Who needs parties anyway?

Thursday February 16, 2006

You would think, though, that if Oregon counties sign people up as being with this or that party, the designation would have some meaning important to the local government or the state

But the only thing that party registration determines is whether, in the primary, they send you a Republican, Democrat or nonpartisan ballot. Do away with party designations in voter registration, and the need for primary elections disappears too.

In Linn County at the last count, some 20,481 voters were registered as Democrats, 24,501 as Republicans, a smattering each with other parties, and 12,288 as non-affiliated.

In Benton County, the Democrats had the upper hand in registrations, with 18,522, compared with 15,715 Republicans and 11,094 non-affiliated, along with much smaller numbers of Libertarians, Greens and others.

In Linn County, 31 adults signed up as belonging to the American Party. In Benton County, 38 belonged to the Constitutional Party.

But as far as the government and the public are concerned, who cares?

All citizens are entitled to consider themselves as belonging to whatever party they wish. But since the major parties do not have membership oaths, or party dues, or membership cards, uniforms, secret signs or handshakes, or anything else that might signify belonging to a group, this “affiliation” is so tenuous that it means nothing.

With that in mind, it’s time for Oregon to consider following the lead of the 12,000 independents in Linn County and the 11,000 in Benton County, along with the roughly 500,000 statewide, and just register all voters as non-affiliated.

There’s no sense in state law maintaining distinctions that do not exist. And if we do away with the primary, think of the money that both the candidates and the state could save. (hh)