Independents hold their primary

2010 Primary Election Results
Independent Party of Oregon

Imagine more than 2,000 Oregonians, who have left behind the Democratic-Republican joint monopoly, gathering together for a the largest political convention in Oregon history. That is exactly what just happened, as thousands of Independent Party members participated in the largest minor party nomination process in Oregon history through the first ever binding primary election conducted by means of the internet.

The results of the online primary election of the Independent Party of Oregon are available at:http://indparty.com/results.pdf

We are transmitting the results in this form so they are available as soon as possible after the close of voting today at 5:00 p.m. In each race, the candidate with the most votes was the winner. In no race did the write-in votes affect the outcome. Read more …

Nearly 2,300 members of the Independent Party (about 4%) voted in this primary election. This turnout was higher lower than previous online elections, including the Alaska Republican Presidential straw poll in 2000 (1% turnout from eligible voters) and Arizona Democratic Presidential straw poll in 2000 (incomplete results not revealed by the Democrats, but internet votes were received from roughly 4% of eligible voters).

As stated by a Eugene Register Guard editorial on July 11, 2010:

“No minor party in Oregon has ever conducted a primary election before. No party of any description in Oregon, major or minor, has conducted an election via the Internet. No Oregon party has ever conducted a primary election at its own expense. The Independent Party of Oregon is currently doing all three. The experiment could change both elections and politics in the state and beyond.”

The Independent Party conducted the first-ever Oregon minor party primary election open to every member of the party and the first-ever party election conducted through internet voting. This election included 86 candidates seeking the Independent Party nomination for 60 different offices. Under each candidate’s name of the ballot was a link to the website of the candidate (if furnished to the Independent Party), thus providing instant information to voters filling out their ballots.

Everyone Counts, Inc., conducted the election on its secure site. Before the end of the election, the encrypted ballots were not accessible until each of the election officials came together in a quorum and provided their unique passwords to the system. That allowed the Everyone Counts, Inc., to decrypt the ballots, remove all voter identification, and count the votes. Each voter can verify that her vote was received and counted by returning to the voting website and entering the receipt code provided to the voter when she voted.

The Independent Party of Oregon was recognized by the State of Oregon in January 2007. About 54,000 members were eligible to vote in this primary election. Since early June the the party has grown to about 57,000 members, making it the third largest political party in Oregon. In 2009, the party played a leading role in the passage of legislation to allow a candidate nominated by more than one political party to list, next to her name on the general election ballot, the names of up to three nominating parties.

Everyone Counts has provided remote electronic voting, with highest level security, for governments on three continents with voters in over 156 countries.