30 October 2008
Oregon’s Close Senate Race Sharp Contrast to House Contest
Voters in this state have no worries about waits to vote on Election Day
Portland, Oregon — Only a few days remain until the United States’ Election Day, and campaign staffs across Oregon are invigorated by the near-certainty of victory, numbed by the likely prospect of defeat or balanced painfully between anticipation and dread in a race deemed too close to call.
But, because anything can happen on Election Day in America — when ballots, not polling numbers, determine the outcome — no campaign can afford to rest. They will work into and past exhaustion, trying to get those last campaign fliers onto doorsteps, final phone calls made and closing speeches delivered.
In the Oregon 1st Congressional District, the campaign staff of incumbent Representative David Wu has reason to be confident. The long-shot effort by novice candidate Joel Haugen never gained much support and, after a falling-out with party leaders, Haugen resigned the Republican nomination at the last minute, leaving that party without a candidate in a district it dominated for decades.
Republican Senator Gordon Smith and Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley, speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, have been nearly dead even in the polls for weeks, but recent polls give Merkley an edge. Their contest has become one of the most expensive, and ugliest, in state history, with the national Democratic and Republican campaign committees pouring millions of dollars into negative television ads. A third-party candidate also is drawing some support in this race.
Support for third-party candidates generally wanes as Election Day draws near, but the Constitutionalist Party’s Dave Brownlow has been climbing in the polls, attracting voters who are put off by the campaigns of the major party candidates. It is unclear whether Brownlow is pulling more support away from Merkley or from Smith, but Smith’s campaign has begun running television ads attacking Brownlow.
As in other states across the nation, the Oregon ballot lists candidates from parties other than Republican and Democrat. In the presidential race, Oregonians can choose among six candidates, representing the Democratic, Republican, Constitutionalist, Libertarian, Peace and Pacific Green parties. In the Oregon 1st, candidates from four different parties — but not the Republican Party — are challenging Democrat Wu.
These smaller parties, known as third parties, play a small but important role in Oregon and in other states. They attract a core group of partisan supporters but also draw “protest votes” from those unhappy with the major-party candidates. They also can be catalysts for change.
When Ross Perot’s Reform Party attracted significant numbers of voters dissatisfied with the two major parties in 1992 and 1996, the Democratic and Republican parties made adjustments to bring back alienated voters. The Reform Party faded, but only after it forced changes in the major parties.
NO LONG LINES TO VOTE IN OREGON
Like most other states, Oregon long allowed mail-in absentee voting, but in 1998 it took the unique step of eliminating voting booths.
A voter initiative mandated Oregon’s vote-by-mail system, which eliminated polling places with their long lines of voters standing in Oregon’s typical autumn drizzle. Ballots now are mailed out to all registered voters not less than two weeks before the election.
Voters can make their selections in the quiet of their homes; some hold informal voting parties to discuss each candidate and ballot measure with friends. The signed ballot cards are mailed or dropped at local ballot-collection sites, which are staffed by volunteers until 8 p.m. on Election Day.
The system has its critics. Curtis Gans, director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University, told America.gov that those who turn their ballots in early will not be able to react to last-minute developments. He also said he believes that, in the absence of a truly secret ballot, there is greater potential for voter fraud or pressure from others to vote a certain way, and that voting by mail has done little to increase voter participation.
Others dispute his assessment and maintain the number of problems with vote-by-mail has been extremely small. In any case, the system has proven hugely popular among Oregonians and appears to be here to stay.
Regardless of their unique voting system, voters in the Oregon 1st, like other Americans, will be eagerly awaiting election results on Tuesday night.
This article is part of America.gov’s continuing coverage of seven of the 435 U.S. congressional districts during the 2008 campaign. Each offers a different prism through which to view U.S. politics. For more information, see U.S Elections — State and Local.
