After failing to convince Oregon election officials to bar Libertarian candidates from running for office, the state Republican Party is turning to Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum for help in its attempts to disqualify several minor party candidates.
Tyler Smith, general counsel for the Oregon Republican Party, on Thursday afternoon sent the Capital Chronicle a copy of a complaint he filed with the Oregon Department of Justice this week alleging that the Secretary of State’s Office broke election laws by accepting candidates nominated by the Libertarian Party of Oregon. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ballots are processed at the Washington County Elections Office in Hillsboro, Ore., May 21, 2024.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Smith’s complaint, filed on behalf of the Oregon Republican Party and longtime Libertarian Richard Burke, alleges that the Libertarian Party of Oregon didn’t follow its bylaws when nominating candidates, and that some of its congressional candidates might not be qualified to run.
“The democratic process demands that voters of any political party be given a choice to vote on who becomes their nominee for office,” Smith wrote. “Secret back-room installation of candidates for office such as has recently happened in the U.S. presidential race, without a single voter casting a vote for the nominee is the antithesis to democracy. This has also now happened in Oregon with no Libertarian Party primary election nomination taking place. Prevention of anti-democratic appointments is exactly why we have election laws that require candidates to be nominated in accordance with the procedures set forth in the party’s organizational documents.”
The complaint is the latest in a series of attempts from Oregon Republicans to keep Libertarians off the ballot, particularly in hotly contested congressional races. Libertarians have filed to run in three congressional races and four state legislative races and have candidates for president and vice president.
Earlier this month, the Secretary of State’s Elections Division considered and rejected arguments from Smith and Burke that Libertarian nominations were invalid because of a long-running internal party dispute over the legitimacy of a set of bylaws adopted in 2011. An investigator with the Elections Division told Smith he didn’t provide evidence that the party violated state election law, and that state election officials don’t regulate internal party disputes.
Smith, in his complaint to the Department Justice, said he did provide evidence. He included copies of the Libertarian Party’s bylaws, both the current version adopted in 2011 and a 2009 version that Burke and others insist are the true bylaws.
“We already provided the facts and evidence that this happened, however the SOS Elections division erroneously claims there is no evidence and they have no authority,” Smith wrote. “There is evidence, and there are even court rulings.”
Mail or online election
Under the Libertarian Party’s current constitution and bylaws posted online, candidates are supposed to be nominated by a mail or electronic election, unless the party’s board of directors lacks the money to run a mail election and votes to hold a convention instead. This year, the party scheduled a convention in Moro, but it didn’t have enough members show up to make a quorum.
The constitution also says that the board can elect a member of the Libertarian Party as its nominee for an office if the primary election does not yield a nominee or if the winner and all runners-up are ineligible, unable or unwilling to be the nominee.
Smith’s complaint alleges that two congressional candidates may be ineligible. The Libertarian candidate for the 4th Congressional District in southwest Oregon, Dan Bahlen, lists a Lane County homeless encampment as his address on paperwork he filed with the state.
“We recognize that it’s potentially legal for homeless individuals to use street corners or fictitious addresses to register to vote, but if he truly just moved to Oregon and lives in a homeless shelter, we don’t believe such temporary address while also holding an out of state address, licenses, and activities can be sufficient to establish residency,” Smith wrote.
While Bahlen is now a registered Libertarian, the complaint says he initially registered as a Democrat in Oregon in August 2023. The complaint cites a state law that requires candidates for major political parties – Democrats and Republicans – to be party members for 180 days prior to the nomination deadline, though that law doesn’t appear to apply to minor parties.
Smith also objected to the nomination of Sonja Feintech in the 5th Congressional District, as Feintech was previously a Republican and elected as a Republican precinct committee person in 2022. He cited a law that applies to nonaffiliated candidates nominated by an assembly of electors, which would not apply to Feintech as a minor party candidate.
Matt Rowe, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Oregon, said he was reviewing the complaint Thursday evening and did not have an immediate response.
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