This might be the closest deadline miss in Oregon political history. State officials say the Oregon Republican Party鈥檚 statement for the state voters鈥� pamphlet arrived 29 seconds too late and won鈥檛 appear in the guide mailed to voters for the November election.
鈥淲e have to apply deadlines equally for everyone,鈥� Laura Fosmire, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Bev Clarno, said in a statement. 鈥淎nyone wishing to submit information to the Voters鈥� Pamphlet has several weeks to do so and we recommend avoiding waiting until the last minute for this reason.鈥�
Kevin Hoar, the communications director for the state GOP, insisted that the party did get its statement into an online filing system by 4:59 p.m. on Aug. 25, the final day for filing. He said the party filed a lawsuit in Marion County demanding that the statement be included in the voters鈥� guide before it goes to print later this month.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 quite explain the interpretation and decision here鈥� by state elections officials, Hoar said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we鈥檝e gone to court.鈥�
In a statement, state Republican Chairman Bill Currier said the failure to include his party鈥檚 statement from the voting guide 鈥渞eeks of partisan discrimination.鈥�
He added, 鈥淚f a bureaucrat in some decision-making role simply didn鈥檛 like what our statement said, this doesn鈥檛 give them the right to silence us.鈥�
Hoar also said that Currier was locked out of the online filing system for several hours, delaying the party鈥檚 ability to file its statement.
Fosmire countered that there were 鈥渘o problems or glitches鈥� with the online reporting system. 鈥淸W]e simply received the statement after the filing deadline,鈥� she said.
Ironically, Clarno, the secretary of state, is the only Oregon Republican in statewide office. A former Oregon House speaker from Deschutes County, she was appointed to the job by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown to serve the rest of the term after Secretary of State Dennis Richardson died in 2019.
Each of the eight political parties who nominate candidates in Oregon鈥檚 general election is allowed to file a statement promoting its principles and explaining why its candidates should be elected. The statement was headlined 鈥淗ad enough? Vote Republican!鈥� It attacked Democratic leadership in Oregon on issues ranging from 鈥淯nrestrained rioting鈥� in Portland to mismanagement of the pandemic resulting in 鈥渃atastrophic small business losses.鈥�
The Democratic Party of Oregon and six other political parties are for the Nov. 3 election.
Copyright 2020 Oregon Public Broadcasting.
