Why won’t Democratic leaders let two election reform bills come up for a vote?
Democratic legislative leaders have consigned two highly popular electoral reform bills to oblivion in the final days of the 2009 session. The bills’ dormancy reveals two things: how ruthlessly D’s will protect their hard-won turf from minor parties and how keen the Oregon Education Association is to maintain the current system. House Bill 2414 would allow general-election ballots to show candidates carrying the nomination of up to three parties, so that, say, a Democrat could also be endorsed by the Pacific Green Party or a Republican by the Libertarian Party. Despite sailing through the House 53-7 on March 31, the so-called “fusion voting” measure is stuck in the Senate Rules Committee. There, committee chairman Sen. Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin) has declined to move the bill, although a bipartisan letter from 16 of Oregon’s 30 senators asked him to send the bill to the Senate floor for a vote. The OEA says Devlin’s doing the right thing. “Our members are on record as opposing fusion v
Related Questions
- During a Primary Election, what if I don want to tell the election judges whether I want to vote Republican or Democrat? What if I want to vote for a Reform or Independent Candidate?
- Why won’t Democratic leaders let two election reform bills come up for a vote?
- What is the republican and democratic views on election and campaign reform?
