71st OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2001 Regular Session
Enrolled
Senate Bill 777
Sponsored by Senator GEORGE; Senators BROWN, COURTNEY, HARTUNG,
METSGER, SHIELDS, STARR, Representatives KROPF, WITT (at the
request of Richard P. Burke)
CHAPTER ................
AN ACT
Relating to minor political parties; amending ORS 248.008.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1. ORS 248.008 is amended to read:
248.008. (1) An affiliation of electors becomes a minor
political party in the state, a county or other electoral
district, qualified to make nominations for public office in that
electoral district and in any other electoral district wholly
contained within the electoral district, when either of the
following events occurs:
(a) When the affiliation of electors has filed with the
Secretary of State a petition with the signatures of at least a
number of electors equal to one and one-half percent of the total
votes cast in the electoral district for all candidates for
Governor at the most recent election at which a candidate for
Governor was elected to a full term. The petition also shall
state the intention to form a new political party and give the
designation of it. The filed petition shall contain only original
signatures. The petition shall be filed not later than two years
following the date the prospective petition is filed. The
circulator shall certify on each signature sheet that the
individuals signed the sheet in the presence of the circulator
and that the circulator believes each individual is an elector
registered in the electoral district. The Secretary of State
shall verify whether the petition contains the required number of
signatures of electors. The petition shall not be accepted for
filing if it contains less than 100 percent of the required
number of signatures. The Secretary of State by rule shall
designate a statistical sampling technique to verify whether a
petition contains the required number of signatures of electors.
A petition shall not be rejected for the reason that it contains
less than the required number of signatures unless two separate
sampling processes both establish that the petition lacks the
required number of signatures. The second sampling must contain a
larger number of signatures than the first sampling. The
Secretary of State may employ professional assistance to
determine the sampling technique. The statistical sampling
technique may be the same as that adopted under ORS 250.105.
Before circulating the petition, the chief sponsor of the
petition shall file with the Secretary of State a signed copy of
the prospective petition. The chief sponsor shall include with
Enrolled Senate Bill 777 (SB 777-INTRO) Page 1
the prospective petition a statement declaring whether one or
more persons will be paid money or other valuable consideration
for obtaining signatures of electors on the petition. After the
prospective petition is filed, the chief sponsor shall notify the
filing officer not later than the 10th day after the chief
sponsor first has knowledge or should have had knowledge that:
(A) Any person is being paid for obtaining signatures, when the
statement included with the prospective petition declared that no
such person would be paid.
(B) No person is being paid for obtaining signatures, when the
statement included with the prospective petition declared that
one or more such persons would be paid.
(b) When the affiliation of electors has polled for any one of
its candidates for any public office in the electoral district at
least one percent of the total votes cast in the electoral
district for all candidates for:
(A) Presidential elector at the last general election at which
candidates for President and Vice President of the United States
were listed on the ballot; or
(B) Any single state office to be voted upon in the state at
large for which nominations by political parties are permitted by
law at the most recent election at which a candidate for the
office was elected to a full term.
(2) After satisfying either requirement of subsection (1) of
this section, the minor political party may nominate candidates
at the next general election if at any time during the period
beginning on the date of the next biennial primary election and
ending on the 90th day before the next general election, a number
of electors equal to at least one-tenth of one percent of the
total votes cast in the state or electoral district for all
candidates for Governor at the most recent election at which a
candidate for Governor was elected to a full term are registered
as members of the party.
(3) A filing officer shall not accept a certificate of
nomination of a candidate nominated by a minor political party
unless the minor political party has satisfied the registration
requirement of subsection (2) of this section.
(4) After a minor political party qualifies to nominate
candidates, in order to maintain status as a minor political
party:
(a) A candidate or candidates of the party must poll a number
of votes described in subsection (1)(b) of this section at each
subsequent general election { - ; - } and
{ - (b) - } following each general election, the
registration requirement of subsection (2) of this section must
be satisfied { + ; or
(b) Following each general election, at any time during the
period beginning on the date of the next biennial primary
election and ending on the 90th day before the next general
election, a number of electors equal to at least one-half of one
percent of the total number of registered electors in this state
must be registered as members of the party + }.
(5) An affiliation of electors ceases to be a minor political
party in the state or electoral district if:
(a) The registration requirement of subsection (2) { + or
(4)(b) + } of this section is not satisfied. The affiliation of
electors ceases to be a minor political party on the date of the
deadline for satisfying the registration requirement; or
(b) { + Except as provided in subsection (4)(b) of this
section, + } in the case of a minor political party qualified to
Enrolled Senate Bill 777 (SB 777-INTRO) Page 2
nominate candidates, a candidate or candidates of the minor
political party do not satisfy the one percent requirement
specified in subsection (1)(b) of this section at the next
general election. The affiliation of electors ceases to be a
minor political party on the date of the election.
(6) During the period beginning on the date of the biennial
primary election and ending on the 90th day before the date of
the general election, the Secretary of State shall determine not
less than once each month whether the registration requirement of
subsection (2) { + or (4)(b) + } of this section has been
satisfied. If the party changes its name, only those electors who
register on or after the effective date of the name change as
members of the party under the new party name shall be counted as
members of the party under this subsection.
(7) An affiliation of electors, a major political party subject
to ORS 248.006 (4) or a minor political party may not satisfy the
one percent requirement referred to in subsection (1)(b) of this
section by nominating a candidate who is the nominee of another
political party at the same election.
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Passed by Senate March 28, 2001
...........................................................
Secretary of Senate
...........................................................
President of Senate
Passed by House May 21, 2001
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Speaker of House
Enrolled Senate Bill 777 (SB 777-INTRO) Page 3
Received by Governor:
......M.,............., 2001
Approved:
......M.,............., 2001
...........................................................
Governor
Filed in Office of Secretary of State:
......M.,............., 2001
...........................................................
Secretary of State
Enrolled Senate Bill 777 (SB 777-INTRO) Page 4