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The May 17 election was a historic landmark for the Independent Party of Oregon, which for the first time conducted a primary as the state's officially recognized third major party.
In House District 30, the Washington County seat being vacated by state Rep. Joe Gallegos (R-Hillsboro), the Independent Party primary took on special significance—and will now be decided by the candidates drawing lots.
Remarkably, the IPO primary ended in a 41-41 tie between Janeen Sollman, a Democrat, and Dan Mason, a Republican, who were vying to be the party's nominee in November. (It's a common occurrence for Democrats and Republicans to seek the Independent Party nomination as it represents a chance for the candidates to win over otherwise disaffected voters.)
Molly Woon, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins, the state's top elections officer, says the candidates have not yet settled upon the process for "drawing lots."
"I think we've suggested rolling dice," Woon says. "We need to find something that's mutually agreeable."
The first attempt at breaking the tie resulted in confusion yesterday because Washington County elections officials apparently failed to follow elections law. And to be fair, the circumstances were highly unusual.
Woon says state elections officials believe it's been at least 25 years and perhaps longer since any Legislative race resulted in a tie.
Breaking the tie is more than just an oddity—it could have unusual significance in the November general election in this district.
That's because as a vacant seat, House District 30 is one of the GOP's best chances to reduce the Democrats' commanding 35-25 House majority in Salem.
In the 2014 general election, Gallegos, the incumbent Democrat, defeated Mason, getting 10,426 votes to Mason's 8,518. Libertarian Kyle Markley got 1,860 votes, and there were 50 write-in votes for other candidates. That means House District 30 voters cast two more votes for people other than Gallegos—10,428—than they cast for him.
Admittedly, that is a shaky foundation on which Republicans could rest their hopes for winning the seat in 2016, but given Democrats' dominance in recent election cycles, it gave Mason at least a fighting chance.
That brings us back to the Independent Party primary. Because of the 2014 results, it's fair to say that voters in the district are pretty evenly divided, which magnifies the importance of the Independent Party nomination.
After Washington County tallied the votes on election night, Sollman, the Democrat, and Mason, the Republican, were tied 41-41.
That result triggered an automatic recount.
Washington County officials went through the ballots again June 15 and arrived at the same result.
Elections officials then asked representatives of both candidates to draw lots—and Sollman won.
Except she didn't.
Here's the email that Washington County elections manager Micki Kawai sent to both candidates yesterday afternoon:
Kawai wasn't immediately available for comment. However, the law she referred to in her email says that in the event of a tie in a major-party primary, the secretary of state, who is Oregon's top elections officer, rather than county officials, breaks the tie. And the drawing of lots is done directly by the candidates, not their representatives.
Woon says the elections division will now call the candidates together to settle the matter in Salem at 11 am Friday.
Willamette Week