Initiative Petition 2026-001 Mandates:

• The Secretary of State appoints all eight of Oregon’s U.S. Electoral College Electors.
• Electors are authorized to vote for the winner of the national popular vote.
• Ranked Choice Voting must be used in the General Election.
• A Top-Five Tracking Poll must be used in the primary instead of closed party elections.

Who’s actually allowed to vote for U.S. President and Vice President in Oregon?

Under federal law, Electoral College Electors are the only ones actually allowed to vote for U.S. President and Vice President. Under Oregon law however, these electors don’t represent the voters – they represent their political party.

ORS 248.355 Selection of presidential electors; candidate’s pledge. (1) In a year when a President and Vice President of the United States are to be nominated and elected, each political party nominating candidates for those offices shall select a number of candidates for elector of President and Vice President equal to the total number of Senators and Representatives to which this state is entitled in Congress.
(2) A candidate for elector when selected shall sign a pledge that, if elected, the candidate will vote in the electoral college for the candidates of the party for President and Vice President… 
ORS 254.135. Official general or special election ballots. (2) The names of candidates for President and Vice President of the United States shall be printed in groups together, with their political party designations. The names of the electors may not be printed on the general election ballot. A vote for the candidates for President and Vice President is a vote for the group of presidential electors supporting those candidates and selected as provided by law…

Initiative 2026-001 takes control of the Electoral College away from political parties.

Initiative 2026-001 mandates that each presidential elector must be a county elections officer, and the electors are appointed by the Secretary of State – not the political parties. More importantly, electors are explicitly authorized to vote for the winner of the nationwide popular vote. (Note that electors are voters and cannot be forced to vote for a particular candidate.)

The Constitution of the state of Oregon is amended by creating a new section 6 to be added to and made part of Article II, such section to read:

Section 6. Presidential electors. Presidential Electors representing Oregon voters in the U.S. Electoral College may vote for the candidates garnering the most popular support nationwide.
(1) Before July 31st, in a year when a President and Vice President of the United States are to be elected, the Secretary of State shall appoint a number of Presidential Electors equal to the total number of Senators and Representatives to which Oregon is entitled in the U.S. Congress. Each Presidential Elector must be a County Clerk in the state. If for any reason, a vacancy occurs, the Secretary of State shall appoint a new elector.

Who determines the winner of the nationwide popular vote, and how do they go about it?

In 2000, the U.S. Presidential election was corrupted beyond repair by problems with the ballots in Florida. At the time, Florida used punched card ballots which were notoriously unreliable. When the card was punched, the small “chad” didn’t always fall away, making the automated tabulation of ballots impossible. Meanwhile, in Palm Beach County, a “butterfly ballot” was apparently misread by many voters. The result was that a very conservative Republican candidate (Pat Buchanan) received an outrageous number of votes in a very liberal Democratic district. Finally, a third-party candidate (Ralph Nader) drew enough votes away from the Democratic candidate (Al Gore) to make it impossible to determine the real winner. (Florida does not conduct a runoff of any kind.)

Initiative 2026-001 requires that the Oregon Secretary of State canvass the results of the Nationwide Presidential election to determine the winner. The Secretary of State is explicitly authorized to ignore the results from any state if there is a fatal flaw in the election process. (Note that ignoring the results of any state is the equivalent of calling that state a “draw”.)

(3) In a year when a President and Vice President of the United States are to be elected, the Secretary of State shall canvass the U.S. Presidential election/poll results in all states and territories to determine the candidates with the most popular support nationwide. At the sole discretion of the Secretary, the results for any state or territory may be omitted from the canvas if:
(a) The process used to qualify candidates for the general election ballot did not provide a free and equal opportunity for all eligible candidates and voters to participate.
(b) The process used to conduct the election/poll did not include a comprehensive runoff process to insure a fair outcome.
(c) Any part of the election/poll was corrupted to the point that a final ranking of the candidates could not reasonably be determined.

If a strong third-party candidate split the vote in the Oregon general election, could the results from Oregon be ignored in the canvass of the nationwide popular vote?

Like Florida, Oregon doesn’t currently use any type of runoff process in the U.S. Presidential race. So, it’s not a given that a future election won’t be corrupted by vote splitting – but it does seem likely. It only requires a strong third-party or Independent presidential candidate. The answer is yes – Oregon’s own Presidential Electors may feel it necessary to ignore the election outcome from Oregon if a comprehensive runoff process isn’t adopted. Oregon’s current election process is fatally flawed.

Initiative 2026-001 requires that the Secretary of State use the general election ballot to conduct a final statewide poll to determine the winner of the Presidential race in Oregon. This poll must use Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) to eliminate the possibility of vote splitting.

(2) In a year when a President and Vice President of the United States are to be elected, the Secretary of State shall use the Oregon biennial general election ballot to conduct a final statewide poll to determine the candidates with the most popular support in Oregon. The names of the candidates qualified under subsection (4) of this section shall appear on the general election ballot in order of their primary ranking under the title for the office. Each voter may designate their first thru fourth choice for each office. The Secretary shall use a Ranked Choice Runoff process to tabulate the poll results and determine a final ranking of the candidates.

Why is it necessary to require that all voters and candidates have a free and equal opportunity to participate in the process of qualifying candidates to the general election ballot?

Article II, section 1 of the Oregon Constitution mandates free and equal elections. Unfortunately, the U.S. Presidential race is not an election. It’s just a non-binding poll (with no statistical sampling.) Consequently, Article II Section 1 and parts of Section 8 do not apply to the U.S. Presidential race. Nonetheless, the process still needs to be free and equal for all candidates and voters.

Section 1. Elections free. All elections shall be free and equal.

Section 8. Regulation of elections. (1) The Legislative Assembly shall enact laws to support the privilege of free suffrage, providing the manner of regulating, and conducting elections, and prohibiting under adequate penalties, all undue influence therein, from power, bribery, tumult, and other improper conduct.

Currently, over 41% of Oregon voters are registered as not affiliated with either major party. By law, all of these voters are barred from participating in Oregon’s U.S. Presidential primary. It doesn’t really matter though – because Oregon’s U.S. Presidential primary does not occur until May – weeks after both major party nominations have been locked up in March. Our own laws are designed to disenfranchise us. Great news for the political parties, but unacceptable for Oregon voters. It’s also unacceptable because Oregon’s own Electoral College Electors may feel it necessary to ignore the outcome of the Oregon presidential race. The process is fatally flawed.

Initiative 2026-001 mandates that the Secretary of State conduct a six-month long tracking poll to qualify presidential candidates to the general election ballot. Individual voters can go online and nominate or endorse candidates for President and Vice President. The tracking poll is six months long and is designed to overlap the existing major party primaries and caucuses. Voters can watch what is going on in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Florida and so on. This is a tracking poll, so voters can make an initial endorsement and then go back online to change their endorsement as the presidential race progresses. On August 1st, only the top five candidates qualify for the general election ballot. All others are disqualified. This is late enough that the major party nominations should be locked up.

(4) In a year when a President and Vice President of the United States are to be elected, the Secretary of State shall conduct a Primary Tracking Poll to limit the number of presidential candidates on the general election ballot. The Secretary may adopt administrative rules, issue orders and make expenditures independently of the Legislature to implement and conduct the poll. The tracking poll shall be implemented using a secure online database where:
(a) Any qualified Oregon elector may create a “voter registration account.”
(b) After January 1st but before July 31st of the election year, any elector may use their account to sponsor a single candidate for U.S. President or Vice President. There shall be no fee assessed for nominating a candidate. However, to complete filing, each candidate must be sponsored by 100 additional electors, be a candidate for one office only, accept the nomination, and be eligible for the office under federal law. Any candidate may withdraw before July 1st of the election year.
(c) On July 1st of the election year, candidates who have not completed filing are disqualified.
(d) After February 1st but before August 1st of the election year, any elector may use their account to endorse or retract an endorsement of any candidate who has completed filing and has yet to withdraw. Each elector may endorse a single candidate for U.S. President and a single candidate for U.S. Vice President.
(e) On August 1st of the election year, candidates shall be ranked based on the endorsements garnered. Only the top five candidates for each office qualify for the general election ballot.

This initiative is a Final Five Ballot Measure

The problem with ballot measures is the cost. We can’t gather enough signatures using volunteers only. In Oregon, over 150,000 signatures are required for a constitutional ballot measure. At $10.00 per signature, that’s $1.5 million to qualify an initiative for the ballot. Luckily, there’s now a group of wealthy donors that are financing Final Five initiatives nationwide. This initiative is a final five ballot measure – it mandates ranked choice voting in the general election and a Top-Five primary. We just need to get the initial 1000 sponsorship signatures, and then win the “single subject” legal battle. Watch the video below and then download, fill out, and return a sponsorship signature sheet.

Why the 2026 election? Can’t we get this ballot measure on the 2024 ballot?

There is already a Final Five initiative qualified for the 2024 General Election ballot in Nevada. We don’t want to do anything that could interfere or jeopardize this initiative – and it isn’t necessary to take any chances. Initiative 2026-001 overhauls the U.S. Presidential race in Oregon. If it’s voted on in 2026, it won’t be implemented until the 2028 Presidential election. If it’s placed on the 2024 ballot instead, it still won’t be implemented until the 2028 election.

There is a more compelling reason to wait until 2026. Because this initiative deals with the U.S. Presidential race, the best time to advertise and collect signatures is the three months preceding, and the three months after the 2024 U.S. Presidential election. This isn’t true for any other ballot measure – just this one. In the upcoming 2024 General Election, if any Republican candidate is elected U.S. President without winning the nationwide popular vote – we should be collecting signatures immediately.

It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the U.S. Presidency. With only 8 electors – does Oregon really matter?

In the 2000 Presidential race, Al Gore won the nationwide popular vote, but George Bush was nonetheless elected with just 271 electoral college votes. If just four electors had decided to vote for the winner of the nationwide popular vote instead of the winner of their state, Al Gore would have been President.

In truth, Florida is the big show. Florida will have 30 Electoral College votes in the 2024 Presidential Election. Florida is the state where we should pass initiative 2026-001. But Florida is a huge state. It requires over 800,000 signatures to qualify an initiative for the ballot there. Most importantly, Florida is a Republican state. Will Republicans actually support this initiative? We need to get started in a smaller state. Preferably, a Democratic state where this initiative has a much better chance of passing – Oregon.

Donate

This initiative has a campaign committee, and we can accept donations. Nonetheless, we are not actively soliciting donations from the general public. Any donations should be made to the Final Five Fund which is controlled by Katherine Gehl and her supporters. You can make donations at political-innovation.org or finalfivevoting.org.

For decades, activists have been acting independently to qualify election reform initiatives in their home states. As a result, most initiatives fail to qualify for the ballot for lack of money. Election reform advocates have actually been competing against each other. There is enough money, but not for everyone at the same time. We now have a national organization that is consolidating support nationwide. One ballot measure – in one state at a time. Oregon is probably not at the top of the list but be patient – our time will come. There aren’t that many states that allow for citizen-initiated ballot measures.

Have a question, suggestion or comment? Want to get involved or make a donation? Use the address, email or contact form below. (Don’t try to call)

Lincoln Primary
670 SE Chester Ave.
Corvallis, Or. 97333

pdamainw2018@gmail.com